Harry Potter and the Power of Intent
by AlekTas
Summary: Harry Potter had had enough. No longer would he accept the life he's been living. He would cut ties with the Dursleys and become his own man. His new attitude leads him to face the threat of Sirius Black head on, and change what sees as broken. How will Gryffindor and Hogwarts react to this new Harry? Year 3 onward. No slash. Rated M for later chapters. Pairings to be revealed.
1. Never Going Back

**Disclaimer**: This story is focused on and will contain characters, situations and a lot of other good stuff created by the esteemed J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Warner Bros. Inc. own the rights to these. Everything not recognized is probably something I made up. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Please note: **The value of a Galleon is 17 pounds sterling in this fic, meaning one sickle is one pound, and one knut a little less than half a pence.

I will tend to write things as if they are resolved – even if they aren't - because everything is seen through Harry's eyes. If you think some theories etc. are ridiculous there is probably a reason for it.

The story will be slow moving at first since I wish to lay a solid foundation for my fic.

**Harry Potter and the Power of Intent**

**Book 1: Hark How the Lion Roars **

**Chapter 1: Never going back**

Harry marched down the dimly lit streets of Little Whinging dragging his trunk along. He was cursing his family under his breath, who wouldn´t? His aunt Marge had just spent a good part of the evening lying about his parents, showing how much of a vile woman she was. Well she had gotten what was coming to her. If you looked up, you might be able to spot her floating some hundred feet in the air and traveling in the direction of the wind, wallowing and screaming like there was no tomorrow.

As he walked down the winding road he thought of the aftereffects of his little burst of magic. He was no longer welcome at number 4 Privet Drive. Truth be told he never had been, but now there was no way they were taking him in again. What would the ministry say? He had already received a warning two years ago. Would he be kicked out of Hogwarts like Hagrid, wand snapped and everything? Would he never be allowed back at his real home, his first home? Hogwarts seemed so far out of reach now. Whatever happened he would do so with his head held high. He had been humiliated for the last time. A single thought in this dark night had Harry grinning from ear to ear: he was never going back to his Aunt and Uncle's.

Harry's arm grew tired of dragging his trunk along. True, it was nowhere as full as it normally was, but it still wasn't exactly light. He hadn't had time to pack, so only his wizarding possessions were enclosed within. The only things he had with him now was his school items, including some robes in a dire need of replacing, his wand in his pocket, his father's invisibility cloak, his faithful companion Hedwig and the clothes on his back.

Slowly Harry made a mental note of all the things he would need. First and foremost he would need somewhere to stay, somewhere Dumbledore wouldn't find him and force him back to the Dursleys again. He couldn't go to the Weasleys, they were all in Egypt at the moment. He remembered the story in the paper about them winning some sort of Wizarding lottery. But maybe next year. He would wait and see, and concern himself about it later, right now he needed a place to sleep and a place to eat.

There aren't exactly many places open to a young wizard walking the streets. His only money consisted of a handful of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. He would need a wizarding establishment for that, and the only one he knew of was in London. Quite a walk yet.

"First stop, the Leaky Cauldron!" Harry said aloud. He stopped and looked around, afraid someone might have overheard him. "Good job, Potter. Talking to yourself." he slowly shook his head. Luckily nobody was around to have heard him. Wouldn´t it be brilliant if he accidentally broke the Statue of Secrecy by talking about the magical world in a small village in Surrey? Especially the day he ran away from home. The day he used magic outside school. The day he was expelled?

He sighed and sat down on the curb, stretching and moving his arm to release some of the tension that had been build up doing the couple of kilometres he had been walking. How many days would it take to walk to London, he wondered.

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration and took a couple of long deep breaths to get his wandering mind under control. Suddenly he heard the rustling of leaves in the garden across from him. He slowly got to his feet and squinted his eyes, trying to determine what it was.

Two large almost glowing eyes stared back at him and a large dog slumped out of the shadows. Harry took an involuntary step backwards.

'And now I´m going to be eaten by a wild stray. Could this day be any worse?' He took another step backwards as the dog advanced on him and he fell over the curb. His heart was beating at an alarming rate and his eyes widened in fear as the dog still didn´t stop.

He drew his wand and pointed it at the dog. It merely cocked its head to the side as if questioning him. His musing came to a halt as a large triple decker bus suddenly appeared right in front of him with a large BANG.

"Welcome to the Knight bus, emergency transport to the stranded witch and wizard, my name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening."

A boy who couldn´t have been much older than Hogwarts age stood in front of him in the entranceway of the bus reading from a piece of paper.

"What you doin' down ther'?" He asked Harry, as he had not moved a muscle since the sudden appearance of the large purple vehicle in front of him.

"Eh, I fell over" Harry responded warily.

"What you do that for?" Harry merely shook his head and got to his feet. Peering over a side of the bus to get a look at the large dog that had been there. It seemed to have moved on, so he focused on the man in front of him that obviously waiting for him if his tapping of his shoe was anything to go by.

"So this is a kind of taxi?" Harry asked, wanting to find an explanation for this weird contraption in front of him.

"If you mean the kind the Muggles use then no. Didn´t you hear what I just said? 'emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard' it's really not very difficult to understand."

"Right, so where does it go?"

"Anywhere you want it to." With that Harry's ears perked up, that way he didn´t have to haul his trunk for days on end to get to London.

"Right, how much is it to get to the Leaky Cauldron, in Diagon Alley?"

"Two Sickles," said Stan, "but for four you get a cup o' hot chocolate, and for six you get an 'ot water bottle an' a toothbrush in the colour of your choice."

"Just the ticket, please."

And with that Harry boarded the bus and was treated to a couple of hours of sharp twists and turns making him fall flat on his back more than once before they made it to the Leaky Cauldron. In this time Stan had told Harry about the escaped convict Sirius Black who was the first one to ever escape Azkaban, and who rumour said to be after Harry. Even after this shocking new insight and all the surprises that he had had over the past couple of hours, nothing could have prepared him for the greeting he received at the Leaky Cauldron.

After being berated by a very flummoxed Minister for Magic Harry could safely say, that this had been one of the weirdest days of his life as he lay down in his room in the old inn. Apparently he didn´t need to make a run for it. And with that, he fell into a long blissful sleep.

He had been very relieved when he found out he wasn't being forced back to his aunt and uncle or kicked out of Hogwarts. He even got off scott free. The minister actually laughed about it! He supposed it had to do with Sirius Black being on the loose. The ministry wasn't that relaxed last time. He was able to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer, as long as he promised not to leave Diagon Alley without an escort.

Nevertheless, it was freedom Harry had never experienced before. Never before had he been able to do what he wanted, when he wanted and eat what he wanted in whichever quantity he wanted, and even though it was constricted to the cobbled street of wizarding shops he felt no draw from world outside the magical district.

His first day of freedom started with Harry waking up at around nine o'clock. His room wasn't exactly luxurious, but it was larger than the room he had at Privet Drive. It contained a four poster bed, a small wardrobe, a mirror and a small writing desk. He got up, retrieved the pair of school robes that revealed the least amount of ankle and without holes from basilisk teeth or spell and or potion damage.

After a quick shower he put on his clothes, tried to hide his scar beneath his raven black hair, and made his way downstairs.

"Ah, young master Harry. I trust you slept well?" Tom the barman called from behind the counter.

"Yes, sir. Haven´t slept that well since Hogwarts." It was true, here he didn't have to wake up in the early morning to prepare food for the pigs and his aunt.

"Very well then. What can I get for you? A standard breakfast meal?"

"Er, yes sir."

"Right, just find a table and I'll be with you in a second. And that'll be five Sickles."

Harry enjoyed his meal in relative peace. Sometimes people would notice him and stare for a bit. He didn't know if it was because they knew he was Harry Potter or because it wasn't very common for a kid his age to be alone at the inn.

He supposed he should finish his summer assignments, but the thought of spending an entire day in a magical part of London seemed to overwrite that nagging thought. The first place that met Harry when he opened the brick pathway was the large white marble building directly opposite the inn. He supposed that would be a good place to start. He could get some money so he could actually make some purchases.

Harry supposed he would have to be more aware of his finances now he suddenly had a lot more expenses, living at Privet Drive wasn't easy but at least it was free of charge. The opposite could be said of the inn. One night for a Galleon, breakfast for five Sickles, lunch for… Well he supposed he should have asked. Probably around the same price as Breakfast of five Sickles, and perhaps half a Galleon to a full Galleon for dinner. This meant each day would about three Galleons excluding anything else but a room and food. He still had almost four weeks before September 1st, so that totalled 84 Galleons. Running away suddenly became a lot more complicated when you had to factor in the cost.

Harry made his way over to the wizarding bank and spared a greeting nod to the guard. He made his way over to one of the clerks that were free and waited to be recognised. Apparently the goblin didn't notice him, or he ignored him, because it took a couple of minutes before it even looked up. Harry spared a glance around, thinking that he might have done a mistake. Who could fault him? He had only been here once, and Hagrid had just waltzed up to the first goblin he had seen and started business.

"Yes?" came the eventual drawl from the aged looking goblin behind the counter. He narrowed his eyes at Harry and sneered.

"Er, Hi. I was wondering if I could somehow get the tally of my account?"

"Name and identification?" The goblin sounded almost bored with Harry and began shuffling papers.

"Harry Potter. And I don't know what identification you want?"

"Your wand or key would do. We could also use your blood if you prefer?" He said, smirking at Harry and baring his fangs.

Harry gulped and hesitantly handed over his wand.

"Very well, stay here." The goblin rose from his chair and left Harry in front of an empty counter. Time crept past and he began to feel rather foolish. People around him seemed to be rather quick about their business. The feeling of having done something wrong increased.

Eventually the goblin returned. Carrying a stack of papers. Once again sitting himself in the chair he began leafing through the papers.

"The contents of the Potter vault is currently undisclosed from everyone except your guardian Mr Potter. The contents of your trust vault are valued at 9037 Galleons, 12 Sickles and two Knuts. The contents consists of Galleon, Sickle and Knut coins. You have five standing payments to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft an Wizardry, to be paid at the first of September this year and the following four, from this account, signed by your parents." He said, now in a much more business like tone.

"There's a Potter vault? What do you mean undisclosed to everyone except my guardian, how do I access it?"

"You gain access to the vault at 17 or you can access it now if you are accompanied by your guardian. As to whether there is a Potter vault, do you think I would say it was so if there was not? Why do you waste time with such questions?" He frowned and took a deep breath to continue.

"And by undisclosed I mean only your guardian will be able to view the contents. It is very clear. Perhaps your school should teach you young ones to listen?"

Harry grew a little red and mumbled out an apology before he could stop himself. He regained his composure and squared his shoulders knowing his next action would earn him another sneer.

"Would it be a stupid question to ask who my guardian actually is? I have a hard time believing you would accept Muggles to visit your banks."

"You don't know who your guardian is?" The goblin raised his eyebrows at that. It seemed the question had surprised him and he reacted before he could calm squash his emotions and adopt the sneer again. He began leafing through the documents he had brought. Finally he found the correct page. He must have, because he first opened his mouth in surprise, then smirked and looked to Harry.

"You guardian, magical guardian that is, is Sirius Black."

That answer took Harry aback. In no way had he imagined that. He had thought it might be Dumbledore or someone at the ministry, but Sirius Black?

"Sirius Black? The escaped mass murderer? How can he be my guardian? They say he is after me!"

"Sirius Black has sworn the oaths and his and Gringotts' magic sees him as your guardian. It will be so unless he break his oath or he makes an enemy of Gringotts."

"But he is a convicted murderer! What does he have to do with me?"

"Your parents signed for his guardianship. We have a copy of the form right here. As for what he has to do with you and his sentencing. We are a bank. We handle your finances not your politics, as your ministry is so happy to tell us. If you wish to access the Potter vault you must be accompanied by Sirius Black or reach the age of 17. Now, do you have any other business with Gringotts this day?"

Harry's mind was reeling, but he managed to form a reply "Yeah, I need to refill my money bag, and I would also like to know how much Hogwarts charge me each year."

"The standing payments are at 1.7 thousand Galleons each year, totalling at 8.5 thousand meaning you are able to use approximately 537 Galleons before you need to fill it with money from your family vault. Anything else before you wish to enter your vault?"

"No, thank you. If you'll just hand me my wand and have someone show me to my vault then we are done." It appeared that he had somehow said something right, because the goblin smiled, but not wickedly like the other times before handing him his wand back and calling for some goblin Harry didn't catch the name of.

Harry filled his moneybag and a couple of pockets with Galleons, thinking it might be best to have leftovers rather than having to deal with the goblins day after day. He thanked the goblin escorting him for his assistance and left Gringotts with a parting nod to the guard.

It was quite an experience going to Gringotts, and he found he had a lot to think about. For some reason the infamous Sirius Black had access to a vault he didn't know he had. He also didn't understand why he would have access to it. It seemed his parents gave him access, but why would they do so for one of Voldemorts supporters? What about Black coming for him as everyone said? Was this a way to get a hold of his money, or was it just a desire to kill the boy-who-lived? Whatever it was, Harry would need to be able to defend himself.

He stopped outside Flourish and Blotts and peered inside. The rows upon rows of magical tomes and books reminded one of the Hogwarts library. The sheer size of the place left no one wondering, whether or not magic was involved in its construction and maintenance. Harry made his way inside, and went over to the clerk.

"Excuse me? I was wondering if you had any books on defending yourself?"

"Ah hello young man, do you mean warding or duelling?"

"Eh, what is warding?"

"Warding is the act of defending one's property and land by means of area spells that are designed for such things as keeping people out. Duelling on the other hand is the act of fighting as a witch or wizard against another witch or wizard."

"It would be something related to duelling I am after then."

"Right this way. We have quite an expansive list of books on the subject. You should also have a look at books containing spells such as curses and hexes. Jinxes are also okay, but you really won't go far with them in a duel. Charms and transfiguration on the other hand will help you take advantage of the field of battle. As I said, we have quite the collection of books, if I do say so myself."

"Eh, yes sir, I can see that. And if you could just recommend any books at all, I'll be happy to take a look at them." It seemed that this small idea of self-defence would have Harry busy for a great long time. He remembered Hermione telling him that professor Flitwick was a duelling champion in his day. If he was, then he might be able to help Harry out understanding all of this. The duelling club last year was a fluke beyond recounting. First of all the teacher was incompetent, and second of all it didn't help him against Slytherin's monster at all. Harry ended up not being able to shoot a spell at the beast because of its magic resistant hide.

Harry perused the aisle of books the shopkeeper let him to. _Duelling basics – master your stance and conduct your magic_ looked to be one of the books any sane person would chose, whereas _Taking the fight to them – a guide to bloodrush and frenzy_ seemed to be one Harry would just leave without. Many other books caught his eye. _Defeat your opponent – traps, jinxes, hexes and curses for a sturdy mind, Magical combat – efficiency and power, 1000 curses to leave your opponent in the dirt, The not so explanatory guide to combat, Living up to your potential, Magical power and how it works, Shielding, cursing and other combat magic – a guide for the intermediary duller, Duelling styles and their weaknesses, Charms for the warrior, Charms to charm your opponent and yourself, Extraordinary charms, The Standard Book of Spells _grade 3 through 7_, Transfiguration at its peak – outperform even the best of them, The Dark Arts – a self defence book _and_ The Best Spells You Will Ever Know and How to Use Them _were just some of the books that Harry ended up leaving with. He had to haul them back to his room in two trips.Hermione would be so proud of him.

Once his shopping spree at the bookstore was over he took out _Living up to your potential_ by Kazor Windermere. The book was quite thick, and started out with a very captivating intro.

_To think that you have learned to be a real wizard by graduating school is a fool's notion. Let nobody think you've believed that even for a second. Complacency will get you killed and ignorance will guide the spell that ends your life. Every witch and wizard around the world knows, that their connection to magic comes from their so called 'core', but to think that this knowledge alone is enough is to ignore the basis of understanding potential. Why is it, that we have so few great wizards in our time, and yet so many in times of trouble? Let me tell you something._

_Opposition forces you to evolve and adapt. You are able to achieve great feats in times of trouble because you should always be able to perform such feats. They were stronger because they had a reason to be stronger and worked to become what they were. It is you and your lazy fat arse that made you weak. Read my book, discover your power and destroy everyone that will get in your way. _

Well, the author was certainly sure of himself and seemed very keen to let his opinion be known. The first chapter was titled "Destroy your weaknesses and take advantage of your opponents"

_Every witch or wizard has a weakness, the key thing is to adapt your style to remove it, or destroy what makes you weak. Hair in your face, glasses and other things limiting your vision are so basic, that if you have not removed theses weaknesses as any sane witch or wizard would, then you have a long way to go before you can learn to adapt to my teachings._

Wait a moment? Glasses? How exactly was he supposed to just remove that weakness? The book gave no understanding of it, it just basically told him, that he was an idiot.

'I'm not an idiot for wearing glasses. Plenty of people wear glasses. There's Dumbledore for one, Percy Weasley and, ehm. Wait, who else at Hogwarts wears glasses?'

The truth was, that of the seven years of students and four houses only two students wore glasses. Percy Weasley and Harry Potter. 'Why on earth haven't I noticed this, and what does it mean?' he asked himself, before continuing his reading.

The book gave a good explanation of overcoming or compensating for problems such as a gait, by being that much harsher in your spellcasting leaving less spells coming your way, non-verbal spells for stutterers, a tripling jinx on your opponent if you were prone to accidents yourself and many more ideas.

One chapter in particular that Harry read over a bowl of soup later that evening was how to train your magical 'core'. In truth there was no such thing as a core, but people used the word to better describe it. Any magical being, both sentient and otherwise have a sort of connection to the magic around them. Their bodies utilise this by not only drawing into the magic around them, but replicating and producing it within themselves. Potions worked because the plants were saturated in magic, but whereas a rose can grow in a magical environment it doesn't make it magical. Every potion ingredient has its own innate magic.

For a being things are a little more complex. Whereas you don't actually have a core you do have an ability to draw on magic and produce, for lack of a better term, magic yourself. This, in essence, has been taken to being called a magical core. It seemed to work a bit like a muscle, but still magical and different. To train your core you must use magic. By using more magic you tell the core that it needs to be bigger to accommodate your needs, and the best way was to do this while your body was still growing. Like all other parts of your body your magic grows as you become older. Where most first years can't cast a shield spell, a trained one could later in the year. But without training even every fourth year would be able. The power of the shield charm lies in the power the caster gives it. The weakness of a shield charm is that it is more magically expensive than the attack that it blocks.

Windermere points out, that every child should learn to use his magic and expand his capacity while he is still growing. Why not do it while it is easier and you have more time? Find strong spells that drain you and use it before you go to bed, that way you become even more tired, and you can sleep as soon as you lay down. This ended with Harry cursing the restriction of magic outside Hogwarts. It would mean he would lose four weeks of training, and according to Windermere it would have been enough time to grow a child's core significantly. There was probably a lot more to the theory than Windermere led on, but the writing style suited Harry. It was practical and to the point, no dawdling over a long list of theories and an explanation of who thought what.

The following day Harry was again seen reading even as he ate his food. He decided, to make a list of the suggestions the book gave that sounded as if were a good idea. A couple of mentions of useful spells, such as the aforementioned shield charm, _Protego,_ as well as a cutting curse, blasting curse and other battering spells.

Harry found it to be very pleasant to sit under a summer sky outside Fortesque's ice cream parlour with a cup of strawberry and vanilla ice cream in one hand, a book in the other and a piece of parchment on the table in front of him. The whole day was spent enjoying a quiet and sunny summer day. Running away had to be the best decision he had ever made.

The day after Harry decided to do some of the things the book suggested. But walking down the cobbled streets there was one thing weighing him down.

The matter of Sirius Black was constantly in the back of his mind. It was one thing to have Voldemort after you. Voldemort was an enigma. He lived on in wraith form, and yet he had managed to put Harry and his friends in danger two years in a row now. Sirius Black was another matter entirely. The way people talked about him was as if he could just suddenly appear and strike without warning. He was described as mad, and with no regard for human life. And yet, nobody had seen him since his escape. Whatever or whoever this Sirius Black was, Harry was certain he would be trouble.

His first stop was Ollivander's. The book stated that every competent wizard should have his own wand, and only his own. But not only that, he should carry it with him so that it was easy to get to, so as to decrease the time it took you to perform a counter curse or shield charm. The book had been very adamant in having the reader buy a wand holster. Seeing as Ollivander specialised in wands, Harry thought this might be as good a place as any to start.

"Ah, Mr Potter. I wasn't expecting you back so soon. Having problems with your wand? I can't think of a reason for it. No, your wand showed quite the array of sparks. Ah, yes even the sparks showed you to be a Gryffindor as your robe suggests. Red and gold sparks, typical Gryffindor spirit."

Ollivander wasn't like most of the other shopkeepers who were interested in selling as much as possible in as short a time as it took. Ollivander was much more interested in, whatever it was he was interested in. He was talkative, that was for certain. A bit creepy in Harry's opinion, but that might have something to do with calling Voldemort's feats of magic great things when normally people avoided talking about it as if a mere mention of the fact would bring the former dark lord back.

"Hello Mr Ollivander. I was wondering if you had any wand holsters for sale? I read a book that suggested one."

"Ah yes, wand holsters. I often ask myself why most people don't buy them. Many a wizard have lost precious pieces of themselves by having their wand placed an unsuitable place. You will often hear the story of a wizard losing one of his buttocks, but that is only because most people don't like to talk about the stories where the wand has been placed on the other side of their trousers."

Harry winced at hearing that story.

"Well, Mr Potter. I do in fact sell wand holsters. I sell most things wand related. You can't be certain it's top quality if a wand crafter hasn't told you so, and you want nothing to damage you wand.

Do you remember to polish yours, Mr Potter?"

'Polish? Why on earth would you polish your wand?' Thought Harry but decided it might be better to just answer the question.

"Er, no, can't say that I have."

"And yet it is your favourite object is it not? How people can treat wands with so little care I will never know. You should always remember to polish your wand regularly. It prevents splinters and repairs small cuts and indentations, allowing for more accurate spellwork. Some also says it makes the wand happy in a way, and more compliable, but you can never tell. Not many believe a wand to be any kind of sentient.

Now, as for your wand holster. There are several kinds. Most people use a wristguard, why the aurors regularly buy them from me, but some people prefer to have it strapped to their leg, their upper arm or somewhere else."

"I would prefer one for the wrist as well."

"Yes, yes. They are quite handy. A small flick of the wrist and your wand will shoot forward and into your waiting palm. Of course my holsters are always enchanted so nobody else may summon it. And which material would you like?

I have dragon, boar, manticore and minotaur hide as well as acrumantula silk and even a couple of basilisk skin."

"I don't think I'll want the one with basilisk skin. Not after last year."

"Why ever not?" Ollivander seemed quite perplexed. Apparently the story of what had happened in the chamber had not spread as far as Dumbledore assumed it would.

"I killed one last year after it petrified a number of students" Harry began rubbing the back of his neck at the revelation "Have you ever heard of the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Yes, quite the mystery. It was supposedly opened some fifty years ago. You are telling me it was opened last year and it was a basilisk? Good heavens, lucky it only petrified the students. How ever did you manage to kill it?"

"Well," Harry began slowly, and then proceeded to tell Ollivander everything about the diary that possessed Ginny, how Hermione figured out it was a basilisk and how Ron and Harry went into the chamber with Lockhart but were betrayed by the fraud and nearly lost all their memories. How the tunnel collapsed and Harry was forced to proceed alone. He told him about Tom Riddle's story, about fighting the basilisk, and Fawkes showing up with the Sorting Hat and him pulling out the Sword of Gryffindor, finally slaying the beast but being bitten in the process. He told him about how the diary was sucking the life out of Ginny and Ollivander's wide eyes suddenly lot their shine and a frown appeared on his face at this news.

"And if Fawkes hadn't healed me I would be dead because of the basilisk venom seeping through my body. You could actually feel it slowly killing me. But now I only have a small scar left to remind me" and Harry then pulled his robe back a little to show a small circular mark right where the basilisk had stuck it's large poisonous teeth in him.

"Good heavens. That was quite a story. I told you we could expect great things from you, and you have confirmed it. I had not figured it would be that early in life, but nevertheless, here you are."

Ollivander was wearing a large smile as he complimented Harry, and slowly clapped his hands together in appreciation and celebration.

"Well I can understand why you wouldn't exactly want a basilisk skin holster. Unless of course you use the material of the one you slayed and wore it like a trophy as well as a wand holster. You should never hide who you are. Sometimes it does well to keep nefarious people away, although sometimes it attracts them as well. Why, just listen to the story of the Three Brothers.

Ah well, another time perhaps. But whatever did you do about the basilisk, have you sold it yet? Rich at the age of 13, ahh, someone has quite the luck."

"What do you mean sell it?" Now it was Harry's turn to be confused. That was something had never occurred to him. And rich? What exactly was he implying? Did he know about the Potter Vault?

"A basilisk is a very rare creature, and its venom a very expensive potion ingredient. Unless you want to donate it to your potion master you could make quite a bit of money on that alone. And then there is the skin. I use it because it is very magic resistant, although heavier than dragon hide. You might not find many armour merchants that make them, but some do still make basilisk hide armour. Of course sales have dropped in favour of dragon hide, which is lighter and just as strong. But still, as a cheaper alternative it is brilliant. Of course there are other uses that I will not mention. Oh, and also decorating."

"Decorating?" Harry's tone of voice showed his clear disbelief.

"Yes, not for furniture, although some families such as the Blacks would welcome a furniture made out of the pet of Salazar Slytherin. Although not necessarily anymore. Sirius Black was a Gryffindor after all."

That kind of information caught Harry unprepared. Voldemort's right-hand man a Gryffindor, when Voldemort boasted of being the heir of Slytherin? Meanwhile Ollivander was still talking.

"Of course there are other ancient houses which value Slytherin that is likely to buy it. The Malfoys, the Parkinsons, Goyle, Crabbe, McNair. Countless houses actually. Be sure to state which beast it was when you sell it. You haven't sold it I take it?"

"No, I didn't even know I could."

"Well it is quite self explanatory. The one who slays the beast has the rights to it. If it is done by multiple people they share the money. I could put you into contact with one of my handlers? The one I originally bought my basilisk parts from. I would of course be sure I wasn't fooled by the processes Mr Potter. It is quite a lot of money."

"Er, well, you see," Harry took a deep breath before trying again "That would be brilliant Mr Ollivander, but why are you helping me?"

"Ah, it is not often one deals with a teenage hero now is it? And my help would be nothing but a few letters, a bit of review of dealings and advise. Why, it would not take me more than a few hours but be a memory for a lifetime."

Harry supposed he couldn't fault him for that. He was quite an intriguing man.

"I shall send him a letter when you leave, and I can tell you when he replies. Where should I contact you?"

"I am staying at the Leaky Cauldron, but I'll be going back to school in four weeks time."

"Ah yes, you should have begun selling at that point if everything goes as planned.

"So, Mr Potter. Is there anything else I can help you with? I will of course be making your wand holster out of the basilisk parts, so it will be a while yet. You mentioned a list of tips from a book?"

"Yeah, it had quite a lot of suggestions." Harry responded, handing Ollivander his parchment.

"Magical core training, draining spells, agility, weaving spells… interesting." He paused after finishing the list. "That is quite a list. For magical core training might I suggest you use a bit of the basilisk?"

"How so?"

"Well, you see, when I mentioned decorating I was also talking about the walls. Duelling clubs often use magical resistant hides on their walls to prevent spelldamage. If you are to take a piece of its hide and mount it in your dormitory you could use it to easily exhaust yourself by casting high powered spells at it before you go to sleep. Of course you might want to silence the area to not wake up your fellow students, but you know what I mean."

"That's a very good idea, thank you Mr Ollivander" That certainly beat his first choice of transfiguring his bed back and forth until he was tired enough.

"You seem to have circled the word "Glasses", why is that?"

"It mentioned in the book, that it is easily overcome, but he offers no explanation." At that, Harry pulled out the book in question and showed the page to Ollivander.

"Ah yes. Had you not wondered why no other students use glasses?"

"Well, there is Percy Weasley" Harry again felt a bit stupid, and began rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes well, you won't have the same problem as him. I can tell you Mr Potter that there are several ways to overcome it.

"Many adults chose to wear glasses enchanted with special properties. I for one can see though invisibility, as is needed to work with the kind of runes I use in wand crafting. However I can see perfectly well without my glasses, do you know why that is, Mr Potter?"

'If I knew that, why would I have to ask?' but instead of voicing his thought Harry simply replied "No."

"Look closely into my eyes, and tell me what you see." And at that he rolled his eyes as far upwards as he could, so that the white of his eyes was predominant.

"Is that runes?" There, on his eyes were small black symbols. Harry couldn't quite make them out, but there was clearly something there.

"Indeed it is. Runes are used in a variety of ways. Eye healers use runes to help focus light better, giving you a clear vision. If you want to avoid glasses it is quite simple. Go to St. Mungo's and talk to an eye healer.

"There are several options, but runes are the newest, easiest and safest. Although it hurts the most." He gave a small laugh at this.

"There is also a potion, but it has quite a larger chance of rendering you blind than runes does. Normally people would use this option, but the runes option has been offered for the past 70 years in favour of it. You could also use lenses, but it would just displace the problem, and for a dueller it would be disastrous if your opponent knew you used lenses. Get a bit of dirt in your eye while wearing lenses and you lose almost all the time."

"It seems there is a lot to runes that I didn't know."

"Ah yes, it is perhaps the most important subject at Hogwarts for many witches and wizards who go into business later on."

"Should have chosen runes then" Harry mumbled under his breath. He was suddenly less sure of his choice in electives.

"What did you chose Mr Potter? It is third year, is it not?"

"Yeah. I chose Care of Magical Creatures and Divination."

"Why on earth would you chose Divination but be interested in duelling? Are you planning to be a divination fighter?" He laughed a bit of his own joke.

"No, Divination is only used by those who actually want to make a living out of it. And often it is so imprecise that there is no use for it at all. In favour of preserving tradition than actually teaching anything, having it in Hogwarts, if you ask me. Go, send a letter to your head of house that you want to change electives or you will waste years of schooling. Go on, go."

And at that, Ollivander began making shooing movements with his hands, leading Harry out of the store right as a young mother and daughter entered the shop.

Harry followed Ollivander's advice and sent a letter to Professor McGonagall via Hedwig, stating, that he had received some helpful advice saying, that divination was a waste of time. He would never know it, but that statement had McGonagall smiling for days when seeing the divination teacher, Trelawney.

His visit to Ollivander had been perhaps the single weirdest, and yet most informative, helpful and generally best visit to any store he had ever been to. He had come in for a wand holster and left with the beginnings of a small fortune in basilisk ingredients, and a great deal of advice that he could use later on.

Harry now had three problems. The first, was that he somehow had to get to St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital, second he would have to contact Ron about his electives and third he had forgotten his list at Ollivander's.

He chose to write a letter to Ron so Hedwig could carry it when she came home.

_Hey Ron_

_How are you mate? I managed to get away from the Dursleys a lot sooner this year. I am currently staying in the Leaky Cauldron and I can tell you, I have never had a better summer. Unless you count my time at your place. How are the family? I got your letter, and I saw the article in the Prophet. Egypt must be fantastic, huh? _

_Have you heard about the escaped convict? It seems Sirius Black is on the loose, and some rumours say that he is after me. Me! I just can't seem to get a break, can I? Well, I chose to follow Hermione's advice and search the library. Well in this case the bookstore, but it's the same thing right? _

_Well, I found some great books about duelling and a lot of other things that I can't wait to show you. One of the books also gave me some general advice. Did you know that you can use runes on your eyes instead of glasses? Yeah! Runes, directly burned onto your eyes! How crazy is that? Well, anyway, I need to go to St. Mungo's to have it done at some point this summer. Apparently there is a lot of things that you can do with runes. I also heard, that divination was rubbish. _

_I have chosen to swap divination for runes instead, and I wanted to tell you so we could take the same classes, as we agreed. I know it should be easier, but Ollivander said that I would be wasting at least two years of schooling by taking divination, while runes might be the most important subject to most businessmen, and also other witches and wizards. _

_I am waiting for Hedwig to return with a reply from Professor McGonagall, so I don't know when I will be able to send this off with her. _

_I hope you and your family are enjoying yourself, I can think of no better people who should have won that money. Say hi to everyone for me. I can't even imagine how Ginny must be feeling. I hope she does better than the last time I saw her. _

_You friend_

_Harry_

Harry looked over the letter one more time. It was quite a long letter, but a lot of things had happened. He hoped Ron would take runes like him, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't know what Hermione took, as she wouldn't let them look. She had probably chosen all of them or something.

He looked outside his window of his small room at the Leaky Cauldron. The skies were dark so it was probably too late to go back to Ollivander's. He was most likely closed already. So Harry once again pulled out his book. He had already made it through quite a bit of it, and was almost done. He would probably be done before dinner even. So he sat down and began reading again.

Not an hour later Harry closed his book for the last time. It had been very eye opening. It not only gave advise for duelling, but also a great deal of other things, like how to train your body to have you magic respond better, how to expand you magical reserves via training, an explanation of how some people had different sizes of cores at birth, but training could overturn those differences. Dumbledore had probably had a very large core, and his training doing Hogwarts and fighting against Grindlewald had led him to become the most powerful wizard in Britain.

It also gave other advise, such as the thing about his glasses. Who knew that there was such an ingenious way that wizards had used for ages? There were probably a lot of things the purebloods knew that he didn't, just because they were raised in a magical family.

He looked over the books he had purchased, and chose one with a large list of curses and other spells. He couldn't train the spells, but he could train the wand movements. The first one he chose was the basic shield charm, _Protego._ When it was time for dinner he was confident, that he had mastered the movements for not only that one, but also the blasting curse, _Confringo, _as well as the flame producing spell _Incendio_.

The next day Harry got up and once more tried to find a suitable piece of clothing. Looking at the state his clothes were in, he decided that he needed a trip to Madam Malkins. He would have preferred Muggle clothing, but he couldn't go outside Diagon Alley without breeching the agreement he had with the Minister of Magic himself.

Making his way over to Tom the barkeep, Harry ordered the standard breakfast and pulled a spellbook out of his satchel. He had begun a new list, this one of spells he would like to learn, and a reference to a page and book of where he read about it. It was a very comprehensive list, containing both offensive, protective and other spells he would like to learn. _The Standard Book of Spells_ series gave a very good overview of which spells he would be learning at school, and there were several of them making their way to the paper. The heating charm seemed a particularly useful spell for students in Scotland.

He made his way to Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, and was made to stand for quite a while during which time one of the shop assistants fitted Harry with all kinds of robes, both school and everyday robes this time. He then made his way back to the inn, deposited his purchases and walked over to Tom the barkeep.

"Hello Tom. I was wondering if you knew a way to get St. Mongu's?"

"Ah, hello Mr Potter. What would you be doing in St. Mungo's? Well, you could always floo over there I suppose, only a single Knut for a pinch of floo powder. Can't get much cheaper than that."

Harry chose to ignore the question and instead said "Thank you" put a Knut on the counter, and grabbed a pinch of floo powder. He hoped it would go better than last year's debacle. He threw the powder into the fireplace and the orange flames changed to green before roaring skywards. He calmly stepped inside, took a deep breath and said "St. Mungo's" before disappearing in a blast of green fire.

Collecting himself off the floor where he had landed he dusted off his new robes and made his way over to the counter where a bossy looking woman sat. There was a small line waiting, and people with the weirdest conditions. There was a man with large baggy and very hairy ears making his way over to her.

"Spell damage ward. Directions are on the sign. Can't you read? Next!" The woman shouted.

It was horribly rude, but nonetheless effective as the line was moving quickly. Soon enough it was Harry's turn.

"Yes? Come on I don't have all day." The bossy woman drawled

"I am looking for an eye healer." Harry responded timidly. There was something about that woman that made his skin crawl.

"Minor damages and maladies, follow the signs. Next!"

And so Harry followed the signs up to fourth floor where the 'Minor damages and maladies' ward was located. Once there he found, that he had no idea where to go. Walking along the corridor for a while he tried looking at the signs on the door. But the corridor seemed to go on forever, and he couldn't find the correct one. So he stopped a nurse walking past him.

"Excuse me, could you point me to an eye doctor, please?"

"Room number 62, just around a corner."

"Thank you"

And so that was how Harry finally came to stand before a small, bland, white door with a copper sign saying "Eye Healer".

Once it was Harry's turn to be expedited he made his way to the healer that would forever change part of him.

"So, Mr Potter. I was wondering if you would come see me, or ignore the advances like your father did."

"My father never went to a eye healer?"

"No. His father was not too keen on James going, seeing as his brother lost his eyesight due to one of the potions failing. Of course we no longer use potions, but he was still wary of any procedure that potentially could leave you blind.

Well, if you would lie down I will then stun you."

"Stun me?"

"Oh yes. It would be better. I bet you don't want to be awake while I stick a hot poker into your eye burning runes into your eyeballs."

Harry could see the logic in that, but the way he spoke with such calmness about burning your eye was kind of scary. He gulped audibly before nodding his ascent.

An hour later Harry awoke with an incredible pain in his eye. He had to bite his cheek to avoid screaming out.

"Ah awake are we. Well, you can either take a pain relief potion, or I could stun you again. Which do you want?"

Harry hesitantly pointed at a row of vials on one side of the doctor.

"Ah, splendid. Now drink up. I suggest you lie back down. Your vision should be blurry for a day yet before the runes activate probably and configure for your eyes. Now sleep, _somnus_."

And once again, Harry was out cold.

It took almost a day before Harry was ready to return to the Leaky Cauldron. He was 40 Galleons lighter, but he was still very elated. He could actually see! Without his glasses! It felt very weird not wearing glasses, but it still felt… good? There wasn't really a word to describe it. He had lost one of his weaknesses, but it was a weird feeling since he had had it for as long as he could remember.

The Galleons also explained why Percy was using glasses. It was a cheaper alternative. It almost hurt to think about the decisions the Weasley family had to take to save money, while he could go on a spending spree. He wondered if there was a way to sneak money into their vault without them noticing.

A couple of days passed without much happening. He had received a reply from Professor McGonagall that she had received his note and acted accordingly. He kept reading his new books, and slowly started working on his homework while exploring the wondrous shops up and down the alley.

Friday morning Harry noticed a crowd forming in front of one of one of the storefronts. Crowds weren't uncommon to behold in Diagon Alley. There would often be small gatherings of people who knew each other or something in one of the shop windows catching people's eyes. However, it was not often that Harry saw a crowd of children his own age and younger gathered around. He walked over to see what all the commotion was about.

_**THE FIREBOLT**_

_This state-of-the-art racing broom sports a stream-lined, superfine handle of ash, treated with a diamond-hard polish and hand-numbered with its own registration number. Each individually selected birch twig in the broomtail has been honed to aerodynamic perfection, giving the Firebolt unsurpassable balance and pinpoint precision. The Firebolt has an acceleration of 150 miles an hour in ten seconds and incorporates an unbreakable Braking Charm. Price on request._

Price on request… On one hand he had never lost a Quidditch match with his Nimbus 2000, but on the other hand… just look at that broom. Everything about it screamed quality. It was much sleeker than the Nimbus he rode, the tail end apparently more aerodynamic, whatever that meant. It was apparently a new brand and their first broom, from what he could gather about the surrounding conversation, and yet here they were providing a broom that topped the well-established brands of not only Cleansweep and Comet but Nimbus as well.

The manager of the place stood in front of the gaggle of people shouting facts about this new magnificent broom. It had apparently never beat all of the competitors in both speed, acceleration, turning and stopping power.

"Irish International side's just put in an order for seven of these beauties! And they're favourites for the World Cup!" The proprietor told the masses.

Harry once again began listing the pros and cons about buying the new broom in his head. On one hand he had never lost. On the other hand this broom was significantly better. Then there was the fact, that Malfoy had bought new brooms for the entire Slytherin quidditch team last year. This in turn meant, that Harry was in fact pressured more than ever to catch the snitch. And what about Malfoy? Surely the boy's father could afford a new broom for him again this year, especially one so much better. Malfoy of course had everything, a manor, status, money, hadn't he talked about tutors? Well Harry had a form of status as well, though it drove him around the bend just thinking about it. He had his Nimbus 2000, though it was locked up at Hogwarts at the moment.

Wait a moment did he actually have a Nimbus 2000? Now that he thought about it he couldn't have. He had never bought it, McGonagall had given it to him, or had she? Had she maybe given it to the Gryffindor team instead?

"Excuse me." Harry said, as he walked up to the man.

"Yes, yes we have received quite a few orders from around the country" the proprietor told someone happily.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Yes?" The man turned around and looked at the small green eyed, raven haired boy.

"It says price on request. Well I would like to request the price, I mean I might or might not be able to afford it."

Some of the crowd had gone silent. Apparently everyone wanted to know the price.

"Ah yes, well. I don't think I can give you the price. We only give it to people who might be able to buy it, and I don't think your parents give you that much in allowance" he chuckled and quite a few of the adults around him did the same.

"Ah, well. I thought I might be able to in a few months, since I am selling some stuff, are you sure you can't give me the price?"

"I am quite certain. Not many families can afford to buy one. At the top of my head I can think of very few, and of those only the son of Lucius Malfoy plays Quidditch as far as I know. What's your name, son?"

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

This time the whole crowd went silent. And quite a few of the people now stared at Harry, many of them trying to get a glimpse of his scar.

"Ah well, ehm," the man suddenly seemed lost for words, pulling at his collar a bit "Yes, well it would be a shame if a national hero wasn't able to afford one. You say you are selling some things?" he tried. It seemed he was in quite a dilemma. On one hand there wasn't a lot of a chance even Harry Potter could buy it, since the Potters were never a family you would describe as very rich, but of course it might be that they he could buy it with the contents of the Potter Vault. After all it wasn't known how much money they had. All that was known was, that they didn't flaunt their money in the ministry like other families like the Malfoys. On the other hand, it would probably give very bad press to turn away Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, especially without consulting with him.

"Eh, yes, Mr Potter, if you would follow me then we can discuss the price and all that." He beckoned Harry over "Thank you all" he called to the rest of the onlookers who had broken into whispers. Whatever happened now he might either see a story in the Prophet saying "Boy-Who-Lives buys new Firebolt at Quality Quidditch Supplies" or "Boy-Who-Lived denied new racing broom by Quality Quidditch Supplies". Ah, this infuriating position the boy had put him in, and he probably wasn't even aware of it. I mean it's doubtful the Harry Potter would be so scrupulous on purpose.

The proprietor led Harry into a small room adjacent to the counter. It was apparently his office, judging by the filing cabinets and parchment all over the place.

"Well Mr Potter. First of all I would like to thank you for your interest in my shop, and I am sure Firebolt would say the same. However, I have difficulties seeing you being able to afford it, even if you are selling some unknown quantity of whatever it is you are selling.

You see, the going price for a Firebolt is at around two thousand Galleons, which I am sure you know is a lot of money. There can of course be considered reductions in the price if you buy a large quantity or if there are other contributing factors. I don't know how much you have of course, but I could ask Firebolt if you could have a reduction in price in, shall we say, an add saying you support and use them? I mean I am only the middle man, and I would have to contact them, and I have no idea what they might say. You are after all the most famous kid in Europe and maybe the world, so they might enjoy that kind of marketing. I don't know if you have a mind for that stuff or not?" he had once again begun pulling on his collar.

"No, not really. I mean I didn't really know about this fame before I received my Hogwarts letter, and I haven't used it for anything and I don't intend to either, but a Firebolt!

And I could possibly afford it when I have sold my stuff. Mr Ollivander said it was worth a lot."

"What exactly are you selling?" Now he was getting curious, it wasn't often that a school kid was selling something worth a thousand Galleons or more, why it was unheard of really.

"Oh, just the basilisk I killed last year in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Just the?! You mean to tell me that it's real! A basilisk, and you killed it? Merlin's beard you really are Harry bleeding Potter."

"Er, yeah, I am. I thought we established that already." He said, looking confused and embarrassed.

"Well, I don't know about the price of a basilisk but I'll definitely ask Firebolt if they can sell it cheaper to you. I mean it would be a hell of a boost in sales with a real life boy hero riding it."

"Okay, I, well, thanks a lot. As I said I heard it would be a lot, so if you can ask them and then let me hear? Thanks, yeah." He got up, determined to get out of this awkward situation. He hated his fame, but he just had to bring it up didn't he? Well, at least he might get a Firebolt now.

The man walked Harry to the door.

"Well, pleasure doing business with you Mr Potter." He said with a genial smile.

"Likewise, Mr?"

"Bennet, Troy Bennet. Owner and proprietor of Quality Quidditch Supplies." He said with a nod, a shake of his hand and a large smile.

"Thank you Mr Bennet I look forward to hearing their reply."

And with that he walked out, and ignored the whispering that people outside were doing after having seen him shake hands with Bennet.

Harry made his way over to Ollivander and peeked inside. It seemed as if he was only slightly busy. A young girl was there with her family. Harry decided he would just wait until there were done and walked inside.

"Holly and unicorn, ten and a quarter inches" Ollivander said, handing the wand to the little girl.

She gasped at whatever she felt and Harry thought he could imagine what would happen now.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a wave" Ollivander said jovially.

And the girl did. Red and gold sparks flew out of her wand and she graced Mr Ollivander and her family with the largest smile.

"Ah, there we have it Miss Clarence. A fine wand for charmwork."

"And a real Gryffindor spirit, I would say." Harry said from behind them, making them all turn around.

"Gryffindor?" the little girl asked shyly

"Muggleborn?" He asked and the little girl nodded. "Yes, one of the Hogwarts houses, I'm a Gryffindor myself. Mr Ollivander told me a few days ago that I showed real Gryffindor spirit when I produced red and gold sparks, and it seems you did as well." He smiled at the bewildered girl.

"Harry, Harry Potter. Third year Gryffindor. Well, third year starting next term." He stuck out his hand at the girl who gingerly took it.

"Sofie Clarence."

Harry turned to her parents and shook their hands as well.

"Are you the first witch in the family?"

"Yes, it was quite shocking, really." The mother responded, after the girl hesitated.

"Well, I'm sure she will be fine. If she works hard the difference between purebloods and Muggleborns disappear very quickly."

"Purebloods?!" The man almost yelled, scandalised

Harry shrugged "I'm not the one who came up with the terminology, and I don't really care for it. One of my best friends is Muggleborn. But some idiots do care, and you should be on your guard from them. As long as you know you are there you are better prepared. I'm sure your guide can tell you. Who are you here with?"

"Me." Came the response from behind Harry. He almost jumped and turned around to look at his head of house. "And I must say you provided a somewhat adequate though not very informative explanation of the bigotry of the wizarding world."

"Ah, hello Professor. So, how long were you there?"

"Long enough."

"Did you see her new wand?"

"No?"

"Well, it seems we have a new lion on our hands. Red and gold sparks, same as my reaction."

"Is that so?" she turned and smiled at the little girl. "As I said, I am the head of Gryffindor house, as well as deputy headmistress. I am sure you would love it in my house. I can not guarantee you will be Gryffindor, but Ollivander almost swears by how his wands react."

"So how do you get sorted?" The woman asked

"Ah," McGonagall interrupted when it looked like Harry was about to answer "We try to keep it a secret to surprise the children. It is a small tradition. But I can tell you it is harmless, whatever rumours you might hear from other children. Unfortunately some people like to scare the new students with ridiculous tales beforehand."

Harry nodded and smiled at the memory of Ron thinking he was about to wrestle trolls.

They all stood in silence for a bit before Ollivander spoke up.

"Well then, that will be 17 Galleons Miss Clarence"

They man went up to the counter and seemed to take ages sorting the golden coins from the rest of them. Finally he handed seven to the shopkeeper and left. Professor McGonagall was almost out the door when she turned to Harry again.

"Why are you here Mr Potter? I assume your wand is still functioning?"

"Ah yes. Well, Mr Ollivander is helping me sell off that basilisk I killed. He says it is worth a fortune."

"So it really was a basilisk?"

"You know, for being something everyone knows about as the headmaster puts it, surprisingly few people seem to know. But yes, it was a basilisk. Ehm, hold on. Can we actually schedule a time and date to go down in the chamber with whatever expert Mr Ollivander choses?"

McGonagall bristled at hearing how Harry spoke of the headmaster, but resigned herself to answer his question.

"Certainly. Just write me a letter when you are able and I will take it up with the headmaster. Good day, Mr Potter."

And with that, she turned and walked out to catch up with the Muggle family.

"Have you heard anything Mr Ollivander?"

"Yes, he has taken an interest in it and have given me some dates to chose from. I suppose you want a list of them to take to the professor?"

"Yes, and it seemed I forgot my list the last time I was here."

"How large a creature was it, Mr Potter?" he asked while rummaging through a stack of parchment on one side of the counter.

"About 60 feet I suppose."

"60 feet? Well, I guess that would quite a lot of venom in that one. The venom is after all the most expensive ingredient. You can replace the skin with other materials, but not the venom. We can hope it still has a lot left, even after biting you."

"Yes, eh, we can. Mr Ollivander, how much money would it be worth do you think? I am thinking about buying the new Firebolt, and I wondered if I would be able to with the money from this sale."

"Oh ho, already eager to spent you money, eh? Well Mr Potter I can guarantee you, that you will be able to buy a Firebolt if that is what you are worried about. Remember, a basilisk is very rarely killed, so it is not often you have any venom on the market. And then there is the thing about it being Salazar Slytherin's basilisk. The bones don't normally sell for that much, but in this case. Why in this case they might just be worth the same as the venom from the right buyer.

"Ah, here is the list you mentioned" and he handed Harry his list of tips from his first book. "And of course here are the dates for McGonagall. If you want my help you should chose the one this Sunday or next weekend. The students are getting their letters it seems, so I will be busy all weekdays."

A small bell chimed and a boy walked inside with his father on his heels.

"Ah, and here is another one. I will speak to you later, Mr Potter. Good day."

Harry wished Ollivander the same and left to find McGonagall so he could hand her the list. When he did so, he specifically mentioned this Sunday and the weekends. She nodded, and told him she would ask the headmaster.

When he turned to go back to the inn he caught sight of a pair of large grey eyes. They belonged to a large black dog that reminded Harry of the one he had seen the day he left Privet Drive. The dog stood completely still inside a small alley behind the potions shop, and Harry began moving over towards it. He however was stopped, as he almost walked right into someone. He hastily apologised to the man, but when he looked back, the dog was gone.

Not sure about what he had seen Harry went back to his room at the inn, where a large brown barn own was waiting for him. It would be the Hogwarts letter, he supposed.

Sure enough, when he untied it the owl flew off and Harry was left standing with a letter emblazoned with the Hogwarts seal. He read over the list, noting the books he would be requiring for the next term. He thought he might as well get to it, and so he jumped off his bed and made his way back into Diagon Alley.

Purchasing his books and Flurish and Bloots was a lot more eventful than last time. It seemed _the Monster book of Monsters_ was a set book for everyone taking Care of Magical Creatures, and that they were causing a lot of problems for the salesclerk. Harry suggested tying each of them down like he had his own. The clerk stared at him for a while before he nodded slowly and turned to get Harry his other books. Harry supposed he would have to wait and see whether or not they would follow his suggestion.

He met some of his classmates for the first time this summer, but they seemed to be in rather of a hurry. Dean and Seamus were there together, and they met up outside Quality Quidditch Supplies where they all talked about the new Firebolt for a while. When Harry told them that he might buy it they went wide-eyed and stammered a series of congratulations ranging from disbelief to happiness and assurances that Gryffindor would win the cup this year.

Harry told them not to be too sure, since Malfoy was probably getting one, but then drew back his remark stating that no matter which broom Malfoy got it wouldn't matter as long as he couldn't even figure out front to back. This brought about a few laughs coupled with some high fives.

Seamus and Dean then took off to buy they new books and supplies for next term, and got a promise from Harry, that if he really were going to buy the Firebolt, then they would get a ride.

The next person he met was Neville Longbottom. The first thing Harry noticed was that instead of walking together with a friend like Dean and Seamus Neville was in the presence of his grandmother. Thinking about it he couldn't really recall whom Neville was spending time with.

In Harry's year there were five boys. Harry and Ron hung out, and so did Seamus and Dean. That left the girls, but where Hermione was with Ron and Harry, Parvati was friends with Lavander. His mood plummeted at that. Not only had he not been a bad friend towards Ron's little sister Ginny, but he had also somewhat ignored Neville as well, hadn't he?

Harry knew all about loneliness and not having friends from his time at the Dursley household, and he swore he would never go back to living like that. But what was that worth if he was making someone else feel lonely?

Last year the act of ignoring others and looking out for yourself and those you hung out with had led to Ginny Weasley being possessed by a dark artefact for months without anyone really noticing. They would notice she was acting differently, but nobody did anything about it.

It was sad to think that the 'family' Professor McGonagall talked about and their introduction to Hogwarts could leave someone behind like that. Harry wondered if there might be something he could do about it. Well, the first step would be to befriend Neville, and the next to unite Gryffindor house to act like a proper unit, a family of sorts.

'Quite a list of goals' he thought to himself.

"Hey Neville!" He greeted the pudgy boy cheerfully.

"Hey Harry, how are you?" He asked timidly.

'Why on earth would Neville be that withdrawn from me? I mean we aren't the best of friends, but we are friends. He never acts like this at school.'

"I am good, and you? Doing alright?" Harry responded, trying to sound cheerful despite the thoughts running through his head.

"I'm okay, I suppose. You here for your books?"

But before Harry could answer the woman on the right of Neville cleared her throat.

"Oh sorry," Neville spluttered "Harry this is my gran Augusta Longbottom, gran this is Harry Potter, one of my friends from school."

"How do you do, Mr Potter?" She asked with a small bow of her head.

"Eh, good. And you, Ma'am? He answered, perplexed and he hastily followed with a bow of his head.

"As well as can be expected." She eyed Harry for a moment before giving a curt nod. "You look very much like your father."

"You knew my father?"

"Yes, I had the pleasure of meeting the Potters on some events my son, Frank, hosted. He knew them mostly through his wife, Alice. Lily Potter once shared a dorm with Alice at Hogwarts. They nearly made Neville their godson if you could believe it, but the war changed many things."

"Really?" Harry turned wide-eyed from Neville to his grandmother and back, "I never knew that."

"Oh yes, terrible fates for both our houses. Would have made excellent alliances, especially with Frank and James' skills. They were quite the pair of aurors in their day, did you know that?"

"Eh, no ma'am."

She turned and faced Neville. "I would have thought you would be proud to tell your dorm mates about your family. Oh yes, the Longbottom name prospered under Frank. See that you do them proud, Neville."

It felt weird, judging by the words, to learn that the person you had known for two years was someone you didn't really know at all. First of all there was the fact that his parents were dead, he supposed, but then that he was actually his, well, what could you call it? Supposed-to-be-but-never-was Godbrother? As good a word as any, he supposed. Magicals loved their hyphens. In any case, that made his resolve to befriend Neville, all the much stronger.

Harry decided to try and diffuse the situation "I suppose you are here for your new books then?"

"Er, yes." Neville quickly caught on to the line being handed to him. "And you the same, I suppose?"

"Ah, no. I am actually staying here in the alley, over at the Leaky Cauldron."

"Why would you be staying there?" Madam Longbottom asked sceptically.

"Well, you see" Harry began rubbing the back of his neck "I don't know how much you know about the circumstances of my placement due to Dumbledore's actions. I am staying at the Leaky Cauldron because any place in the world would be better than the Dursleys."

"You mean to tell me?" Madam Longbottom asked, now with wide eyes and a shocked expression.

"Yep, ran away from home at 13. Should have done it ages ago, never had a better summer. Well, unless you count the time I stayed at the Weasleys last year."

"And you are staying here by yourself, while Sirius Black is out there?" She was clearly thinking there was something very wrong with Harry's decision, but she wouldn't know about how difficult it could be to stay with a couple of Muggles as bad as the Dursleys.

"Yeah, pretty much. There's a lot of witches and wizards around, so unless Black decides to go after me in the streets I should be okay. Of course it's not confirmed that he is after me, but it is a rumour. I've been reading books on duelling and such to help me get a better idea on how to defend myself."

"Really?" This time Neville perked up

"Yeah, they are really good. You should give them a try. Hang on, I am done with one of them, and already made a list of what advise it gives that I can use." He shuffled around in his satchel before finding and handing Neville _Living up to your potential_ by Kazor Windermere.

"For instance," Harry carried on "It mentioned glasses being a weakness easily overcome. I had no idea you could use runes, but now I don't need glasses anymore."

Neville stared at Harry wide-eyed.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't know if you really were raised by Muggles." Madam Longbottom said haughtily.

"Tell me about it, there are so many things I probably don't know that purebloods do."

"Yes, well. From what I hear that hasn't made much of a difference at school. Neville has quite the tales of what's been happing at Hogwarts, codswallop really, but you seem to be in the middle of many of the rumours and stories."

"But it's true!" Said Neville firmly.

"Bah! Defeating a troll in the first year, a Cerberus in one of the rooms, a possessed teacher trying to kill Harry and then this year. A basilisk loose at the school and no teachers doing anything about it?"

"Well, it is actually true." Harry tried backing Neville up.

"You don't actually think I will believe that will you? I mean you kids have a good imagination, which is all well and good, but not proper, no. Children shouldn't tell tall tales."

Something about her was infuriating Harry at the moment. Maybe it was because she was dismissing everything like the Dursleys used to do.

"Well, I would like to think you change your mind when I begin selling the monster."

Madam Longbottom gasped a little at that. Might be something to do with the tone of his voice.

"I've been speaking to Mr Ollivander and he is writing to one of his contacts, so that we can sell the great beast of Salazar Slytherin. Parts should be on the market within the month."

"You are not making this up?" She asked in disbelief.

"No." he told her resolutely

"But why are you selling it, shouldn't the teachers be, or?" she trailed off

"I am selling it, because according to the law it is mine. Mr Ollivander said that the one that kills it earns the rights. I killed it, so I can sell it. And no, the teachers did nothing to help. We actually dragged Lockhart along, but he attacked us, and the spell rebounded, hitting him instead."

"Surely not."

"Oh yes. How about we talk about it over one of Florian Forteque's ice creams? His ice cream parlour is right this way."

And so Harry spent a good part of the day talking about what he had been up to, which made Neville's grandmother curse about the incompetence of the staff. She was especially angry when she learned about what Snape did in his classes to both Neville and Harry, and told them, with nostrils flaring mind you, that she would have a word with not only the Headmaster but Professor McGonagall as well. Of course it helped that she knew one of the governors at the school and could therefore place a considerable amount of pressure on them to act.

Madam Longbottom then walked off and began her shopping while Neville and Harry remained. Harry was very interested in telling Neville all about what he had learned from the duelling books he had been reading. They talked about some of the spells you can use, and Neville was especially intrigued by Harry's explanation about training and increases your magical reserves and core.

Neville was often being picked on and called a squib by some of the Slytherins, because he wasn't doing very well in the courses that required spellwork. Truth be told he couldn't be a squib, since he was able to do something, but Neville was fluctuating a lot more than any other student their year. Unless you counted Ron last year when he was stuck at using his broken wand. They both hoped, that the training the book told them about would help them out.

Neville asked Harry if he was planning on asking one of the teachers about a duelling club like last year, though this time with competent professors. At first Harry rejected the idea out of hand, but thinking about it, it seemed like a good idea. However, it wasn't very likely people would be thrilled about it, given the disaster the duelling club was last year.

"So you've been here for a week now?" Neville asked

"Yeah, and staying for another three. Can't say it has been boring so far, but I don't know what else there is to do around here, and as I told you: I have to stay here or leave with a guard of some kind. I don't know why the minister is acting this way, but better that than sending me back to my aunt and uncle, right?"

"From the sounds of it, yeah. But I agree, I wouldn't know what to do here for three more weeks either. I could ask my aunt if you could come over?" Neville asked, somewhat hopefully.

"That would be grand, yeah" Harry replied, grinning.

"Of course, there's not much else to do at my place."

"Don't worry about it, we'll figure something out. If nothing else, we could go for a fly?"

"You know I don't like quidditch, Harry" he said dejectedly

"Oh come on Neville, it's fun. I'm sure once you get used to it you'll like flying almost as much as I do."

"And why do you say that, what makes you think I will suddenly change just because you want me to, hm?" He asked, fiercely. Apparently it was a bit of a touchy subject.

Harry put his hands up in mock surrender "Woah, relax Neville, I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, sorry Harry."

They became quiet and an awkward silence befell them.

"So what's up with this sudden interest in duelling? It can't just because of Sirius Black, can it?" Neville tried.

"Well, yes and no I suppose. On one hand Black is just a symptom of my problem. You know I've faced dangers the past two years at Hogwarts and now suddenly I have another madman after me. I mean will it never end? I don't want to stay woefully unprepared forever, you know?

"And now we know the prison isn't as secure as it ought to be. When is the next Death Eater going to escape?"

He paused as he saw Neville suddenly go stiff and paling.

"Neville, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing." He mumbled "You were saying?"

"Okay…" Harry began. It once again seemed he knew very little about Neville. There was certainly something there, but no reason to push it. "And we also know that some of the Death Eaters went lose just because they had money. Look at Malfoy, look at what he did last year? Did you ever hear that he was the one who gave Ginny that cursed diary?"

"No?" Again he went ashen faced "Then why didn't they arrest him?"

"That's it! Dumbledore says there's not enough proof, and you know what happened the last time. Tell the Wizangemot he didn't know or was under the imperious while giving money to the right hands and suddenly he gets away scott free. "

"It sucks."

"Yeah, but that's what I mean. If they aren't going to lock him up, then I have to be prepared to defend myself, right?"

"Yeah. But you don't think the school is doing enough?"

"Are you kidding me? I've learned more about defence against the dark arts in this week by reading my books than the last two years combined. Well, not counting spells, but almost. And Lucius Malfoy is an adult, so he would know everything they teach at school and more."

"Yeah." Neville said, distractedly. He was staring ahead into nothingness, clearly pondering something. "So what books would you recommend?"

Harry grinned at him, and led him over to his room at the inn, where he made a note of all the books he had bought.

"You could buy them all now, or wait 'till I'm done with mine."

"Don't worry, Harry. The Longbottoms have enough money for this" he chuckled and paused "Of course you wouldn't know. I keep forgetting you were raised by Muggles."

"Yeah, tell me about it. But what do you mean?"

"I mean the Longbottoms are as old, if not older than the Potters. We are quite well off."

"The Potters are old?"

"Yeah, very old. I don't remember how old of course. But you aren't the first famous Potter either."

"I'm not?"

"Of course not. Though you will probably end up doing a lot more than any of your ancestors, what with surviving the killing curse and slaying a basilisk at twelve?" Neville grinned at him.

"And what about your family?"

"Oh my family has an old history and famous people as well. A lot of the families at Hogwarts does. It is after all the premiere school in England."

Harry stopped himself from asking if there were any others. It would be stupid to assume around 20 people each year made up the magical population, but he had assumed it for some reason, once again due to a lack of knowledge about the wizarding world.

"The Malfoys aren't the oldest. They moved here from France long ago though, so like many others it's not clear how old they are exactly. I think it was one of the French kings that renamed their family to Malfoy, due to them supporting an opponent in their rebellion or something in that manner. They are however one of England's richest families, if not the richest. Can't really tell you, since the goblins keep it all confidential, but they are very used to spending money to gain influence."

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons he won't get send to Azkaban I suppose. Nobody wants to give up such a large contributor, especially St. Mungo's.

"Of course something still has consequences. You heard gran talk about the governors, right?"

"Yeah, something about using one of her contacts to pressure them into doing something about Snape?"

"Not only contact, friend. They go way back, probably school years, but I don't know. However, last year they were pressured into firing Dumbledore, but because he was threating them to do it he has since been removed from his post. It means Draco will do a lot less strutting next term, I hope."

"Well, we can hope yeah, but not if he is as influential as you say. And especially since he seems to escape criminal punishment."

Neville just shrugged. They were going in circles now. They were both very much agreed to how unfair it was.

"But back to the original question. Did you want to borrow my books, or?"

"As I said, we have enough money. I'm not really given a very large allowance, but if I do something my father would have done Gran will certainly support it."

"She said something about aurors?"

Neville seemed to inflate a bit, and he squared his shoulders "Yeah, both my mom and dad were. They are dark wizard catchers. Though during the war all of them worked as hitwizards really. The aurors normally deal with minor trouble like theft, but anything involving serious dark magic the hitwizards are the ones sent in to catch the criminal while the aurors investigate."

"And my dad was one?" Harry asked in wonder.

"Not for long though," Neville said grimly "Like my parents he went into hiding for some reason. And unlike my dad he wasn't a fully fledged auror. He was still training to become one, but during the war even those people were sent out to combat the Death Eaters."

"And what happened to them, if you don't mind me asking?" He tried, carefully.

Neville hung his head, and looked at Harry for a bit.

"Another time, Harry."

The following week passed slowly. Once more Harry met up and talked with a few people from school, mostly fellow Gryffindors. He had also managed to complete his assigned homework with a little help from some of the friendly shopkeepers around.

Florean Fortesque proved almost invaluable, as he helped Harry with a long and tedious essay about witch burnings during the middle ages. It was as if most historical events became uncharacteristically boring if they were somehow connected to their ghost professor. His monotone voice was almost sleep inducing, and reading the assignment you could almost hear it in the back of your head. Mr Fortesque proved a very good cure for that.

Fortesque not only provided Harry with quite a few free sundaes, but he also managed to tell a few interesting stories surrounding the topic. Likewise Mr Ollivander proved a great help. Ollivander not only helped Harry harvest the basilisk that Sunday, but also provided help with a few of his charms assignments. He was a great help at understanding the way different strokes with a wand would help spellcasting.

Most of the wand movements function as a way to power the spell by focusing your magic in a certain way. By thrusting your wand forward you help center yourself for a powerful spell by providing your body with a feeling of striking out. Many of the spells taught in Hogwarts, especially transfiguration, function as modern day versions of old rituals. Transfiguration for example derives a lot of its theory from alchemy, where diagrams and magical substances would change an object by powering a spell. Likewise the wand movements function like the power circles or diagrams, and the wand movements focus your magic in a special way. An expert can often replace or even remove wand movements if they learn to copy the magical signature. Bending magic that way however is only spell specific, so like wand movements you have to recount the exact feel of your magic. Wand movements however allow you a little leeway.

The basilisk had been harvested and Ollivander's contact was in the progress of contacting a few choice markets, announcing the new available wares. He had brought a camera to prove that the snake in question really was from the Chamber of Secrets. Salazar Slytherin had made that very easy by having his enormous statue placed squarely in the back of the room for all to see.

Harry had been very surprised when he learned, that the man only took 0.75 % of the value for himself, but he was assured that the figure was plenty enough, considering how easy it was to harvest and how much it would be worth. Ollivander had been the one to do the haggling, and he felt as though he had dodged a bullet on that one. Harry undoubtedly would have given 20 % or something like that, but then he was far from an expert.

Ollivander had perhaps been the greatest source for help and advise this summer, apart from his duelling books. With not much else to do he had begun tearing through them at a good pace. His list of spells to learn were now numbering over 50, and he had already begun trying to memories the wand movements.

As he sat on his bed, reading about the different duelling styles and their weaknesses a clicking sound could be heard from the window. He looked up, and saw that a small grey tawny owl. His own owl, Hedwig, had been gone the entire time Harry was there. He hadn't thought of the consequences of sending her to Egypt he supposed.

He greeted it happily, untied the note it was carrying and served it a healthy dose of owl treats and fresh water.

The letter was from Neville.

_Hello Harry_

_I hope you are holding up and not getting too bored at the inn, we all know what happens when Harry Potter gets too comfortable at Hogwarts. I suppose you haven't since I have yet to hear of any wild mountain trolls wrecking the shops or three headed dogs trashing Flourish and Blotts. _

_I have talked to Gran about having you over, and she agrees that it is a good idea. If you still want to that is. As I said there's not a lot to do over here. I mostly just take care of the greenhouses to pass the time, but you already knew that._

_If you still want to visit just write back with return owl. His name is Edgar and he belongs to my family, so he is able to bypass the wards._

_Hope to hear from you soon_

_Neville_

Harry quickly wrote a note saying 'yes, please' and send the owl back with his answer. He supposed he would hear from Neville tomorrow, meaning anything else he wanted done would have to be done the next day.

The next morning Harry went over to Ollivander to thank him for his help, and to receive his new wand holster, specially made from the basilisk skin of his own kill. Following that, he made his way over to the bookstore and found yet another couple of books that looked promising. Hermione would be thrilled to hear about it. It felt weird not having heard from his friends in ages, but last he knew Ron was still in Egypt and Hermione was supposed to be out of the country as well.

He made his way inside Quality Quidditch Supplies to talk to Troy Bennet. The shop was busy, but when Bennet saw him he quickly called him over.

"Ah, Mr Potter. I had been expecting you. I received word from Firebolt a couple of days ago."

Now Harry was getting eager, he hadn't figured he would be able to get a reply that soon.

"Well, naturally they were a bit sceptical about just handing discounts over to any famous witch or wizard. They are after all marketed towards those who can afford a real quality broom, and, well, you know.

"Anyway, I managed to convince them it would be a good idea to have the most famous quidditch player outside the professional leagues play with one of their brooms. You know, to show it isn't only for the leagues." He smiled proudly at that, and Harry got the impression he would have padded himself on the back if he could manage it without looking completely and utterly foolish.

"Thanks Mr Bennet."

"Ah, call me Troy, Mr Potter. After all, I have a feeling this little deal will have quite a lot of influx, I mean. Anyway." He cleared his throat a little before continuing.

"They originally lowered the price by three hundred Galleons, but I was able to haggle a little and lower it by another two on top of that."

Harry couldn't believe his ears. 500 Galleons were a lot of money, a hell of a lot actually. He would very likely be able to buy a new broomstick for all of his teammates for that kind of money.

"I don't know what to say Mr Bennet, I mean Troy. Thank you, thank you." He said, beaming.

"It's perfectly alright my boy, you deserve it. It isn't every day you get to help the person who brought about the fall of he-who-must-not-be-named. A terrible time that was." He shuddered. "So, if you are able to pay the Galleons you will be able to fly your very own Firebolt at the end of the day. How are the selling of the basilisk parts going, will you soon be able to?"

"As far as I know he is still contacting different clients, but I should be able to get the money from Gringotts today. Should I just come with them in a bag, or?" He thought, that although it would drain quite a bit of his account and mean he wouldn't be able to pay his tuition with the remaining money he would get the money back later with the sales and everything.

"No, no. I don't want to imagine walking the streets with that kind of money. That will only land you with a big target on your bag. No, tell the goblins to place the money in vault 459 and get a receipt for it. They take a two Galleon fee for every vault transfer, but that should be nothing when dealing with that amount of money."

And with that, Harry quickly said goodbye and almost ran to Gringotts constantly repeating "459" in his mind. When he finally made it back a little over ten minutes later he wore the largest smile and carried a note detailing the transfer of money from his trust vault to vault number 459.

He never noticed the large, black shaggy dog following him with his eyes. It waited outside Gringotts until he came out and then stuck to the streets, watching as Harry re-entered Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Splendid!" he cried jovially "Now if you will follow me Mr Potter you may chose your broom. You can either get a coated one or natural colours."

Harry ended up picking one in black with Firebolt written in gold on the end of the handle. He had it wrapped up in a piece of cloth when he exited the shop.

"Hey Harry" a voice came from over by the window.

"Hey Katie. And hello Alicia. Angelina." He greeted each of the girls in turn.

"How have you been Harry?" Katie asked him.

"Oh, I've been good. Escaped from my Muggle relatives two weeks ago and been having a magnificent time ever since.

"Escaped?" Angelina enquired

"Escaped, ran away, left. Whatever you want to call it." He said jovially, still feeling as if he was floating high in the air due to his new broom.

"You mean to tell me, that you ran away from home? What are you, 13?" Angelina asked, aghast.

"Yup. Torture and starvation really isn't my thing." They all look terrified although disbelieving.

"You mean to tell me?" Alicia began, but Harry cut her off.

"So, what are you girls doing?"

Getting the hint Katie was the first to recover.

"Well, we're actually just here to have a look around, see if there's anything interesting to be bought? You know, a shopping trip?"

"Yeah, Katie and Angelina have been telling me about this great Muggle mall that's supposed to be close by. In Muggle London, of course." Alicia told Harry happily.

"Ah, wish I could join you girls." Harry said dejectedly

"You do?" Katie was apparently very surprised by this.

"Not many guys dare say something like that." Angelina said cheekily.

"Not many guys lost their entire wardrobe either." Harry replied "I only have robes now, thanks to a visit to Madam Malkins, but I am out of Muggle clothes, and I could really go for some."

"Then why haven't you just bought some in Muggle London?" Katie asked

"Because I can only leave in the company of other trustworthy Witches and wizards. Minister Fudge said as much."

"You know the minister?" Alicia asked, clearly surprised.

"Know is quite the strong term. I accidentally blew up my aunt." He caught on to their horror stricken faced "I mean inflated, only inflated. Jeez, what do you think of me?" he said, shaking his head.

"Well," he continued "that was the last drop for my uncle. They have been trying to squash the magic out of me for the better part of my life now, but attacking his sister was too much. He was about to do something stupid, so I pointed my wand at them and made my way out of there. Of course I had to be quick, so no clothes were packed, only all my wizarding stuff."

They all looked sad at hearing Harry's tale, Katie especially seemed perturbed. Maybe because she was younger than the two others?

"Well," Katie began, looking at the girls and then Harry, "if you want, you can tag along? I mean, we are trustworthy witches, are we not?"

Harry decided to have a bit fun with them, and tilted his head a little and rubbed his chin, as if pondering the question.

"Cheeky, brat." Katie laughed and hit him on the shoulder playfully. Alicia and Angelina exchanged a couple glances with each other. "As I said, you can go with us. Of course you have to do everything you tell us to."

"Which means not only are we going to pick out a lot of clothes for you to try." Alicia interrupted

"It also means you have to help us. You know, give us a guys opinion." Katie beamed, and looked to her fellow chasers who smiled back at her and once again exchanged a few glances.

Harry readily agreed, having no idea what he was getting himself into.

"So, I'm guessing we are going to Gringotts before going into Muggle London?"

"Well, yeah." Said Angelina "We were just perusing the streets, looking for something nice."

"And of course as quidditch players we couldn't keep our eyes off this beauty" Alicia finished, pointing at the Firebolt.

"Can you imagine?" She said wistfully.

"Naught to a hundred and fifty in ten seconds. It must be such a thrill. And the speed at which you can cut corners." Katie sighed "And I'm still flying on my old comet"

"Yeah, we were flattened in that match against Slyterin last year. Malfoy might not be any good, but their aggressive play and all nimbus brooms? It isn't easy. We're just lucky Malfoy is so bad, and you are so good Harry." Angeline surmised.

"I bet Malfoy will be buying that one, just so he will be able to outperform everyone, even with his skills."

"We'll still win anyway." Harry concluded.

"Feeling confident are we, Harry? Not to be a downer or anything, but even against Malfoy a Nimbus 2000 just won't be able to beat it. I mean it was a narrow catch last year, and that was only against the 2001 model. Unless you have an ace up your sleeve or Malfoy isn't getting the Firebolt we might as well concede to the fact that Slytherin will get the cup this year."

"And the next" Alicia supplied, and Katie repeated her "and the next, and the one after that."

"Do you have so little faith in your favourite seeker?" Harry asked them, grinning from ear to ear, as he held up what he was carrying.

"Don't tell me that's"

"It isn't, is it?"

"No way in hell, Harry"

"You have to be shitting me." "What?" Angelia asked, as the others turned to stare at her.

"No need for that language, Ang."

"There is if that's what we all think it is."

"It is" said Harry and removed the cloth from his new broom making the girls squeal in excitement.

"Forget a Slytherin victory, It's a Gryffindor win for sure this year!" Angelina proclaimed

"It still depends on the rest of the team though. Slytherin still has the best brooms over all, and you can bet your money Malfoy will be getting one of these now I have it. He won't be stood up by me, and his father won't allow it either."

"You are going to have a lot of bludgers heading your way, Harry" Katie said, slightly fearfully.

"Yeah, I guess. But it's worth it. This broom will be top of the market for ages to come in mass produced brooms. At least five years I would think. I heard it took them twelve years to get everything right, and that is why it's so expensive. Of course there's also all the enchantments, such as it being unbreakable. It has to be hit by a pretty dark curse to break it, I heard." Angelina had apparently been studying the Firebolt for some time it seemed.

"It should be at that price. That's a lot of money to throw out the window if it snaps just because you crash." Harry said

"How much did it cost?"

"Let's just say unless one of the other teams suddenly hire a new rich kid we will probably only have Malfoy to compete with." "Well," he paused "unless someone else has access to their family accounts, I suppose."

Katie seemed to want an answer anyway, but Angelina elbowed her and shook her head at Katie.

"So what do you do about security, Harry?" Angelina asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well. An item like that is very likely to be stolen if somebody sees a chance. And you can't just let it stay in the broomshed." Angelina told him

"Nor your trunk" Alicia supplied.

"Why not?"

"Too risky"

"So what do you suppose?" He asked the girls.

"Well, there's two ways to go about it I would say. Either you get a new trunk with heavy security or you get a new bag with added security, an unbreakable charm and an undetectable extension charm."

"Wait. You want me to carry my broom with me, all the time?"

"To be honest I would say buy both. It's not expensive. It's fairly common charms. The extension charm is in quite a few books at Hogwarts. The security charms however you should either have a trunk salesman or a goblin prepare. If you want the best that is."

"Yeah. No matter how grumpy they seem to be, they are the best at security and they earn quite a lot of money on it. Problem is, they can also be quite harsh."

Harry followed their advice and they went and paid two Galleons for the extension charm, which Katie complained was horribly overpriced, and Harry ended up buying a new trunk that could be locked to only opened by a password, unless you wanted to suddenly find yourself hanging upside down bound in ropes and covered in ink. He ended up having the same security added to a new satchel he bough later on in the day.

The rest of the day he spent with the girls, and as Harry would later testify, it was quite an experience.

At first it was fun to have all the girls fawn over which clothes he should have, but as he was trying on his twelfth shirt it was quickly becoming a hassle.

On the other hand he was in for a rude awakening when it was the girls turn to try on clothes. He could honestly say he hadn't considered the girls anything else than good friends, but it that line of thought were being pushed aside as they showed of their new clothes in front of him giving him quite the show. He was trying to remain impassive as this occurred but by the cheeky smiles or smirks he was receiving from time to time he knew he was failing.

They were all, in short, very beautiful girls. Angelina was the darkest of them with mocha coloured skin, long black hair that went below her shoulders and dark, brown eyes. She was also the tallest of the three, and her choice of clothes seemed to point that out, as she often chose skirts that would accentuate the fact, or long slick jeans.

Alicia was, like Angelina, two years older than Harry, and it was very obvious at times. Her skin was a few shades lighter than Angelina, and she wasn't quite as tall. She too had black hair, though hers was a bit shorter and darker, and her eyes were a few shades darker than Angelina's as well.

And then there was Katie. Katie, unlike the other girls, had pale cream coloured skin. Her eyes were blue and her hair a light shade of brown. Though she was almost a year younger than the other girls she was a just a bit taller than Alicia. She would often chose clothes which she saw had the effect of drawing Harry's gaze, and she would smirk or smile coyly at him at times.

After the girls had had their fun making Harry blush and fidget in his chair they spoke in low voices to each other and laughed at Harry's confused and inquisitive expression.

They later on went for dinner at one of the nearby restaurants, where Alicia had her first experience with Pizza. Alicia was a pureblood, and the two others completed the list with Angelina being Muggleborn and Katie a half-blood like Harry. They had apparently hit it off two years ago when they had all become chasers. Oliver Wood had been pressuring them to be on par with the much more experienced teams the other houses had, and would work them tirelessly. Thus their friendship had started, and now they spend more time together than they did with their other classmates. This was especially hard on Katie, as she was a year younger than them, and didn't share classes with the other two.

They would often meet up over the holidays as they did now, and hang out, shop, and have fun.

It was a very tired, but happy Harry that returned to the Leaky Cauldron that evening. He carried quite a few bags of new clothing with everything from shirts and jeans to shoes and underwear. For some reason it seemed to underline the point, that he was finally in control of his own life, and that things were looking up for him.

At his writing desk Edgar awaited him. Neville would apparently be by tomorrow, and they would floo over to Longbottom manor.

Neville arrived as harry was eating breakfast and greeted him cheerfully with a wave of his hand and a large smile. In the beginning of the summer when hearing the name "Potter" people would often turn and stare at Harry for a bit, or come up to him asking ridiculous things such as for an autograph, supposedly to some child that had grown up hearing about him. He had tried to turn them down gently, but sometimes he gave in and handed them a mangled signature in his custom chicken-scratch.

Now, however, people largely ignored it. They had become accustomed to his presence, as many were regulars and those most interested in meeting him already had.

Neville and Harry made their way up to Harry's room where they packed the rest of his stuff, whereupon Harry made his way downstairs to pay for his stay,

His stay at Longbottom manor revealed quite a few things Harry didn't know about the wizarding world. Apparently many of the old families had quite a lot of money because they were able to use their nature to help procure favours, and a lot of wealth. As landowners they were able to secure a good harvest years on end, and many other similar functions. This is turn meant they would steadily gain money while their social status grew and by the time the Statue of Secrecy was implemented a lot of the wealthy inhabitants of England belonged to the wizarding society.

This is turn meant that many old families now lived in large manor houses, or at times small almost castle like structures. The Longbottoms were such a family.

The Longbottom manor was an incredible sight to behold for someone who had never been used to seeing such wealth. They arrived in the middle of what must be the main hall. It was a large open place with large statues and paintings of old witches and wizards whom Harry supposed must be the Longbottoms of old. A large marble staircase with golden railings led them up to the second floor, where Neville showed Harry to his room.

The room was not much larger than the one at the leaky cauldron, but the four poster had a large headboard emblazoned with the Longbottom coat of arms. The writing desk was complete with an array of fine utensils, and a door led him into the most amazing bathroom he had ever been in. The faucets were made of what looked like gold, and were shaped like lion or bear heads.

The ceiling itself was painted to look like a clear summer sky with animated birds flying along it. The walls too were painted in a naturesque motif, grass landscapes with hills and field, with the grass and corn slowly swaying in a non-existent wind. Outside of the bedrooms the walls were often either white with a lot of decorations, or filled with pictures of scenes of hunting and nature in general.

The manor itself was surrounded by large amounts of land, and a large amount of greenhouses made up a steady source of income. They had a couple of house elfs employed just to take care of their plants, but over time Neville had taken an interest in it, and now took care of much of the work himself when he wasn't at Hogwarts.

Other than that there were also a lot of ministry secrets that weren't secret to old families. For example they were able to use magic for two reasons. First of the ministry could never point to whether it was Neville or one of his family members using magic in the area. This was the reason Dobby the house elf was able to have it blamed on Harry when he used magic. Second of all the wards around Longbottom manor had been upgraded in the eighties for some reason Harry still didn't know, probably something to do with the war, and they now functioned in a broad range of ways, including masking any magic being used.

Harry and Neville gradually used this to begin training their magic. First they concentrated on the new spells they would be learning in school, but more often than not they would train the spells from the duelling books they both read.

It had been a surprise to see Neville taking such an interest in it, but Neville said it was something Harry had told him to consider that was behind his resolve. Harry supposed since he still held secrets from Neville about his past, that there was no reason he couldn't do the same.

Harry was surprised by the amount of work it took to tire himself out in the beginning, but decided it might be because they weren't using very powerful spells. They read about what kind of spells took the most amount of strength and effort and found, that it was often those with the largest effects. It could either be a large transfiguration, or continual spells such as a fire whip they read about. Neither of them was able to conjure it, and so they stuck to just repeating spells in a quick pace rather than focus on draining ones.

Neville had a bit of a hard time with it. It wasn't obvious what the problem was. He seemed to do the correct wand movements, but sometimes the spell would fail, where other times it would have a lot more power than he normally had. Neville suggested it was because he maybe wasn't as in tune with his magic as Harry, since he had displayed a lot less accidental magic, and that his magical reserves were probably lower. It didn't sound right, but they just couldn't pinpoint the problem.

It was a very entertaining stay Harry had at Longbottom manor. Neville showed himself to be absolutely brilliant at herbology, and he slowly taught Harry some of the basics he still hadn't caught on with. In turn Harry would beg and attempt to coerce Neville into flying. Neville was happy to remain with both feet on the ground, but once in a while Harry got him into the air, where Neville very slowly became more comfortable on a broom. He didn't want to try out Harry's new Firebolt, especially not after seeing the stunts Harry was able to pull on them.

His grandmother mostly left them to themselves, but they would occasionally meet her as well as a man Neville introduced as his great uncle Algie. In some ways Harry found himself sympathising with Neville. She was a very strong-willed woman and her words were often harsh and berating, even when they thought they had done rather well themselves. Sometimes though they would catch sight of her watching them train their duelling, where she would almost smile at times. Neville especially thought this was odd, since she was normally a lot stricter and had very clear instructions about how Neville should behave.

In what seemed to be no time it came to be the 1st of September. Augusta Longbottom would see them to the station via side-along apparition. From there they made it to the scarlet steam express and went to find an apartment to themselves.

**Author's notes: **

Yes, the magical core theory is stupid. There is a reason for that coming up in later chapters.

I must once again press upon you, that I will tend to write things as if they are resolved – even if they aren't - because everything is seen through Harry's eyes. This also means the way people are read are according to Harry. For example: He might be certain a person blushes for one reason but it is really for another.

There will be no bashing without a reason behind it. The Dursleys will suffer bashing, but only as a way for Harry to move forward and become a new person. Dumbledore is well meaning, but as we saw in cannon he is manipulative. He will be scrutinised and there will be conflict between him and Harry. Kind of Dumbledore bashing at some points, but not through the entire story. He will have to work for Harry's trust.

Why did I have the tacky scene with the girls and Harry shopping for clothes? It's a three-part answer. First of I wanted to do something else than just having him go buy some random clothes, and as I stated he kind of had to go with someone or break the rules. Secondly it's because it opens his eyes to the idea of girls in general. Third, it just so happens I want to expand upon the team spirit in Gryffindor, and the Quidditch team specifically.

Now I had someone tell me I mentioned glasses a lot, apparently. It's really not because I care much about them, it's more of an example of how Harry doesn't know something most people born in the wizarding world does.


	2. Screams in the Dark

Disclaimer: Nope, I still haven't got rights to the HP franchise.

**Chapter 2: The Screams in the Dark**

"Finally! We've been looking all over the place." The compartment door opened to see a very relieved looking Ronald Weasley and a slightly tired Hermione Granger. The voice came from the male part of the group.

There were a round of greetings from both Harry and Neville. Both Ron and Hermione seemed surprised to find Harry sitting there with Neville, but Ron was the one to voice it.

"So, what are you doing here with Neville?"

Harry didn't know if he should take offence to that or what. Neville, as it turned out was a very likeable boy, and a gracious host. He possessed many of the qualities Harry could identify in himself, but he seemed very much stuck in the same kind of mind that Harry had in prep school.

On the other hand, it was just how Ron talked. He wasn't socially inept or anything, but he did have a way of saying stuff that sounded mean but weren't meant as such. Of course he also had a habit of saying stuff that were actually mean for that very reason, to offend.

"Been spending a couple of weeks at his place." Harry said, trying to keep his voice genial. If all went well they would go from a group of three to a group of four. 'Better not do something stupid' he thought to himself.

"Really?" Now Hermione seemed intrigued.

"Yeah, we met each other in Diagon Alley where I was staying at the Leaky Cauldron. We hit it off and he invited me over. Learned quite a few things from him." Seeing Hermione was about to interrupt, she had a habit of doing that, whenever they were talking about learning stuff. "I'm going to talk about what we learned later," he flashed her a smile, and she blushed a bit, clearly flummoxed that Harry had caught on so easily to what she was talking about. "Maybe most importantly I found out something about my family."

This seems to have surprised them all, and the compartment almost seemed to quiet, as if all noise inside the small space as well as the hall had stopped.

"Seems the Longbottoms and Potters were great friends. Apparently me and Neville were supposed to be Godbrothers." He concluded, hitting the boy lightly on the shoulder.

"Harry, it's Neville and I and there's no such thing as godbrothers," Hermione started. Apparently she just had to correct him, it was in her nature. He rolled his eyes at that. "Then what else would you call it?" He asked, but she ignored him in favour of asking what was on her mind.

"But really? Godbrothers? Why didn't you know this before?"

Harry just shrugged in response "How was I to know, I know practically nothing about my family."

"But surely Neville's parents would have," she paused and gulped "oh." Was all she said. Yeah, oh. Hermione had a bright mind. She easily deduced that the only reason for him not to end up with Neville's parents, were if they weren't able to take him in.

"What? I mean it's a good question?" Ron however didn't seem to have noticed how the faces of three of the people present had fallen, nor had he understood what Hermione had figured out.

"I live with my gran." Neville simply said.

"Oh, right. I knew that." Ron sputtered out, having caught on. They actually had known that since day one, where they were introduced to each other at the entrance feast, but sometimes that kind of information and its implications seemed to slip by them right when you actually needed it.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a bit, before Ron showed it wasn't only at chess that he was able to use his mind.

"So, I brought Hedwig." He said, as he brought forth the owl in question, sitting quietly, sleeping, in her bird cage.

"Whatever were you thinking Harry?" Hermione admonished. "Sending her all the way to Egypt with a letter? It's a wonder she didn't die from exhaustion. Such a thing should have taken months upon months, and yet she did it in just under one." She ended, sending a disbelieving look at the bird in question.

"Must have hitched a ride somewhere." Ron suggested. It seemed a good explanation.

Harry just rubbed the back of his neck subconsciously as he responded "Eh, forgot you were in Egypt when I send her off, and kinda how long it would take her. My mind was elsewhere."

Hermione almost threw up her hands at the boy's foolishness and his lame and casual response.

"That reminds me, how did you get away from the Dursleys' so early?" Ron asked.

"Ran away." Harry told him simply.

"Ran away?!" Was Hermione's response, delivered in a loud shrill voice.

"Yup. Had enough of it, and I'm not going back." He turned to Neville to waylay the conversation. He had such a good time, and he didn't want to ruin it by talking of things he rather not even think about. "So, you think they might be interested in some of the things we've learned and trained?" He asked him.

Neville gave a small smile in reply. Harry had hoped he would get more out of his shell, but he could only help him so much, the rest would be up to Neville. Harry had time to get comfortable with Ron and Hermione, Neville just knew them as acquaintances.

Hermione reluctantly silenced. He knew she wanted to talk more about it, but that she also knew not to press the matter. They knew very little about his time at the Dursleys' and he didn't really want to go into details. He knew people around the world had had it worse, but it was far from a happy home. Really, it wasn't even a home at all, just roof over his head.

Hermione sighed exasperatedly, and humoured him. "So, what did you learn Harry?"

Harry grinned at her. "I took a page out of your book at went, well, bookshopping."

"Bad pun, Harry, bad pun." A new voice said from the door. Harry looked up and saw Fred and George Weasley standing in the open doorway.

Harry just shrugged in reply and gestured for them to come inside.

"Heard the girls ran into you in the alley," one of them said. Maybe it was Fred, though it was probably George.

"Said you had a right old time." The other one said with a grin, and a mocking wink.

"My man, having three girls dote all over you an entire day, you must teach us." Okay, maybe it was Fred when he thought about it.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, rather stiffly. Maybe it was because she was once again distracted from learning something, but it was highly likely that it was because of the way he talked about girls.

"Ickle Harrykins spent the _whole_ day with the three lovely and _single_ chasers of the Gryffindor quidditch team." Fred said. "Although come to think of it" he turned to his twin, who looked back at him and finished "I wonder if all of them are still single" and as one they both turned their heads over at him, awaiting a reply.

Harry sputtered in protest, making the lot of them laugh.

"Didn't tell me about that part." Neville joked.

"Nothing happened!" He said vehemently.

"Oh sure, what's what they say? 'What's a little skin between friend?'" Fred asked.

"Yeah, with all those visits to the lingerie stores" one twin quipped.

That stopped Harry cold. "What?" He asked.

"Damnit, Harry. You should just go with the flow." A Weasley twin bemoaned "You know the story that Harry Potter spend an entire day looking at women with little to no clothes on sounds better that being used as a manikin and just sitting there judging t-shirts and dresses."

"Oh, so that's what happened" Ron said from the sidelines. He looked a little perplexed that he now had the focus of the entire compartment. "What? I thought I was going to have to ask Harry for hints."

George laughed heartily and clapped Ron on the back "Now there's something of the Weasley spirit breaking through" he said as Fred joined him "Finally doing something we can associate with and be proud of." He said, wiping a fake tear out of his eye, "Just so proud."

"Well, you're not the ones defeating mountain trolls, taking on the teacher's challenged or setting out to hunt a basilisk are you?" Harry asked them, wanting to defend his friend. Ron had always had a bit of trouble being the younger brother and overshadowed. Truly, his adventures with Harry and Hermione would be something that made him stand out more than any other Weasley at Hogwarts as far as he knew.

"Touché, Harry, touché."

"Back to something serious though."

"Not as serious as Sirius Black mind you."

"Of course not, there's seriously nothing as serious as Sirius Black these days."

"No, no, it's quite the serious matter. Some seriously deranged convict is out there, running about, attracting some serious attention, that Sirius Black. But nothing as important as what the girls were eager to tell us."

"Was it about his dreamy eyes?"

"Was it about his suave way of charming the ladies?"

"Was it his size?" At this their byplay came to a sudden stop as Fred smacked George over the head.

"Or was it about how we are going to win the Quidditch cup the rest of the years at Hogwarts?" He finished.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"Rumour has it, that Harrykins here has bought himself a Firebolt."

"You shitting me?"

"Ron, language!" But Hermione went unheard.

"You bought a bleeding Firebolt?!" He asked excitedly.

'Oh, oh' Harry though. Now they were moving into a minefield. He had thought long and hard about whether or not he was going to buy it, but he had forgotten to think about his friends' reactions. Ron was always very conscious about his, and his family's, lack of money, and it didn't help that people like Draco Malfoy would often bring it up. Having Harry buy something Ron would never be able to afford without landing a very well paying job, which was in itself highly unlikely with his academic scores, was bound to go down badly between the two of them unless he didn't move around carefully as if walking on eggshells.

"Yeah, kinda emptied most of my vault doing it, but…" he trailed off and shrugged. He saw Hermione about to talk about how stupid a decision that was and hoped he was able to communicate 'Don't' via a small jerk of his head and a hard stare.

She didn't seem to understand him, though.

"Harry you shouldn't have. That was really irresponsible of you."

At least it seemed to have a positive side effect "Oh lay of him Hermione. It's a bloody Firebolt. I mean who wouldn't want one of _those._ Wow," He mumbled the last bit "I think I would give a leg for that."

"Might not want to do that brother of mine" said Fred in mock seriousness.

"Yeah, wouldn't be able to ride it then." His brother added, and they both nodded as if they were sage words of wisdom.

"Argh, you know what I mean."

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked abruptly, trying to change the subject. It looked like Ron was about to blow a gasket.

"Why? Aren't three girls enough for you, Harry?"

"You know what I mean!" Harry responded hotly.

"Wow," Fred said, and looked between Ron and Harry.

"If it wasn't for the red hair"

"The eyes"

"The freckles"

"The body stature"

"The facial structure"

"You would think you two were brothers!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"But honestly? No, I don't know what you mean. Why are you asking about our sister, you better not be thinking about going out with her."

"Yeah, she would probably say yes"

"And then we'd have to hurt you when you eventually begin acting stupid again"

"And then Wood would murder us for hurting our seeker"

"And then Gryffindor would lose in quidditch."

"Yeah, even with the Firebolt on our team, without a pair of beaters like us we would be crushed!"

"No!" He said a bit louder than he had intended. He coughed and tried again. "No, I was just asking because I haven't really heard anything about how she was doing. With," he trailed off "you know."

And know they did.

"Harry." Fred started in a much more solemn tone. "We're all thankful for what you did, and we appreciate you caring for her, but sometimes it's best to just let it lie. Especially so as few as possible know the truth."

"For now people don't know what Ginny did and we would much prefer to keep it that way. It would ruin her. So please." George finished.

"Honestly." Neville spoke up after a time. "The only ones in here who hasn't brought up anything depressing are me and the wonder twins over there. Beyond that we have talked about five or six things people wanted to keep talking about and people just derail everything."

Neville flushed a bit when everyone turned to look at him, somewhat incredulously.

"What?" He croaked out.

"You just recognised our awesomeness!" Fred said dramatically, "Always knew he was a bright chap."

"So, where is Ginny?" Hermione asked now.

"Probably with someone from her year, I suppose." Ron said.

"Didn't you guys learn anything?" Harry asked them, and again everyone was silent.

"There's something I have been thinking about over the summer." He paused and looked at them all.

"Remember what McGonagall told us just before we got sorted?" He didn't wait for them to answer, instead paused for a bit.

"She told us, that our houses would be like a family. Well I can honestly say that I have never really had any kind of family, but seeing how Gryffindor has acted amongst themselves these last two years have really told me, that apparently I'm not the only one who has to learn what it means to be just that, family."

As with everyone else, when it happened that someone who rarely said anything grand started on a motivational speech, people quieted.

"To talk about how Gryffindor turned their back on Hermione, Neville and I when we in first year were caught after hours would be petty considering what happened to Ginny, but it serves to say that abandonment is not a one time occurrence in Gryffindor."

Night after night I have thought what would have happened if we had just noticed Ginny and helped her, instead of going off and doing our own thing. What if the next person who happened upon the basilisk died? Ginny nearly did!" he paused again. "That doesn't seem like a family to me."

Various emotions ran across the faces of the people gathered there: shame, anger, disbelief and remorse were the main ones showed.

"Well, what do you suggest?" Ron asked indignantly, he didn't like to be called out on abandoning his sister, "you can't just go say: act this way."

Harry didn't really have a plan, he had ideas though.

"How about study sessions? That way people would interact with each other more, and it would help our grades."

"If you want people to interact more throw a party" Fred said and Hermione huffed in annoyance.

"You can't just party all the time and think that makes everything better."

"No, but it would help." Harry said.

"Yeah," George continued, eager now that he had someone on his side, "If you have study sessions you don't have the kind of happiness that should be there to further a better relationship, you get more of," he trailed off.

"Acquaintances?" Neville tried putting forth. George snapped his fingers, "That's it, yeah, acquaintances. You have to have fun and share good moments to be considered friends I would say."

"Throw in a bit of butterbeer, a couple of games and some firewhiskey and you make friends in no time."

"Butterbee? Firewhiskey?" Hermione sputtered.

"All in good fun of course." George said happily "You'll get to know butterbeer this year in Hogsmeade, but firewhiskey. Well, we'll have to get some of the seventh years to get us that." He finished with a wicked grin.

"That's all well and good, but how will we organise that, and afford it?" Hermione asked, always the meticulous planner.

Fred shrugged "Been organising small things like that for years now, in accordance with the afterparties for a quidditch match. Money though, that's a little tricky."

"Yeah, you can get food and drinks from the kitchens, but everything else is up to the students, including such things the teachers might raise an eyebrow at."

"In other words, it's up to the students to handle the entertainment and set the mood." Fred concluded.

"Now games can be done fairly easily, but so far that hasn't really been what we've concentrated on, as parties normally skip that kind of stuff."

"Smaller events." George added from the side, and got nods all around.

"Parties, well" he paused. "So far all we really have to go by are the ones we've been at ourselves, which is not a lot mind you."

"Of course you are dealing with the masters of mischief and dare I say fun?"

"Too true brother of mine."

"But as we said, money can be a problem. For one we can't pay the money, and then you really can't expect people to pay for a Gryffindor party."

"Especially if we want everyone to participate." Neville added from the sidelines.

"Can we ask people to set up a pot and donate whatever they have?" Ron asked. There was a short silence as people thought it over.

"I think it's the best solution to the problem." Hermione stated, her voice changing as one she normally used for lectures.

"Everyone eats different amounts, drink different amounts and generally do different things. To say that everyone should pay a set price is problematic because someone will get more than others for the same amount of money. And the normal pay-as-you-use method can't be used because that will hold people back and always have them think about money instead of having fun."

"Not to mention that certain parties have quite a lot more money than others." Neville interrupted her.

"Yeah I didn't want to mention it, but. You know." She sighed and shrugged dejectedly.

"My allowance isn't that large, but I can send a letter to gran and see if she will support it. I could paraphrase it as making future allies."

The Weasleys snorted at that.

"You know it's when I hear things like this that I am glad our family isn't a typical old family."

At the questioning looks shot at him George elaborated.

"Well, Weasley is an old family, and our mother was the a Prewett, but we don't really have the money to back it up, so we are kept out of all the high strata things."

"Yeah, sucks." Ron muttered.

"Sucks?" Fred asked and snorted. "You know Ronniekins you might want to ask Neville over there how the fancy life is."

Ron shot Neville a dark look.

"Charity balls, fancy dinners were you have to sit and pretend to adore the food, laugh at unfunny jokes, be careful about offending condescending pigs because they have some position of power."

"Yeah, well" Ron started but Neville went on.

"Being the heir of a family means everyone judges me by what I does, and so I never really get to do what I want. It's always about how I should," he stopped when it occurred to him what he was saying. "Nevermind." He finished gloomily.

"How did you know about all that?" Hermione asked the twins. Here was something she didn't know beforehand. Well it was pureblood customs, so it wasn't really something she could just look up, but it still annoyed her slightly that she didn't know this.

"Been speaking to people." Came the reply.

"Well, I'm up for Ron's idea." Harry said, "and I'll add some money to the pot."

"I think we should make a list of ideas." Hermione said, as she pulled out a small notebook and a pen and began scribbling away.

"We'll take it up with the house at some point and they can give their own."

The mood was once again cheerful, and everyone was telling each other what they had been up to over the holidays, while from time to time giving Hermione something new to add to her growing list of ideas.

Ron had showed him a sickly looking Scabbards, and explained that Egypt seemed to have disagreed with him. He had had his mother buy a bit of tonic from a petstore, but it didn't seem to be working very well. He had brightened considerably up when he showed everyone his new wand from Ollivander's. This had brought the conversation over to what Harry had been reading, and how he now no longer wore any glasses. Ron was a bit surprised; he hadn't even noticed he wasn't wearing them. Hermione insisted that she had meant to bring it up, but it was pretty obvious from her tone of voice and her rapid speech that she was either ashamed or lying, meaning she hadn't noticed either.

They had been sitting there for a couple of hours now, and Neville had seemingly blended into the group. He was still more pensive than the rest of them, but Harry thought it would change at some point. The twins had long since gone after having confirmed that Harry did indeed have a Firebolt and wheedling a promise out of him to try it.

"You should have seen mom's face when she saw them trying to close the entrance with Percy still inside. Oh she got so mad George swears his ears were ringing the next day, and he seemed to have problems sitting down." Ron laughed as he recounted events of his holiday in Egypt.

Suddenly the train gave a great lurch and Harry was flung from his seat and into Ron who was sitting in front of him. The lights went out and the screech of the trains' breaks was deafening.

"Ow," came the small voice of Hermione. Harry had ended up on top of Ron so he could only imagine what had happened with the other pair. The compartment was shrouded in darkness, making it very difficult to see each other. Heck Harry had only been able to see Ron's face when he was way too close for either of their comfort.

Harry stood up gingerly and stretched his hand out to find his seat before sitting down again. He flicked his wrist and his wand sprung out from its holster and into his palm.

"_Lumos_" he intoned, and the compartment was bathed in a calm light.

He looked down at the floor and blinked. Whereas Ron had got up and found his seat as well Neville and Hermione were still sprawled on the floor.

"Neville" Hermione croaked painfully, "can't breathe" she wheezed out. Neville lay flat across her chest, almost crushing her beneath him. He groaned as he tried to move, but hissed in pain.

"What's wrong Neville?" Harry asked, trying to assist the pudgy boy.

"My knee," he said "think I busted it when I fell." Harry tried to help Neville up, but he wasn't able to get him up with only one arm, as he was still holding his wand. He did manage to get him into a kneeling position before Neville lost balance and toppled forward again.

"Ron help me out here." Harry said as he turned to look at Ron.

Ron looked at Harry then at Neville and snickered.

"What?" Harry asked, perplexed.

Ron simply looked at Neville.

"Neville!" Hermione squeaked, reminding Harry a bit of a little elf who had 'helped' him last year.

"Wha'?" He asked, looking down at her. By now Hermione was blushing furiously and she stared at the boy above him.

"Trying to cub a feel?" Ron asked from the sidelines. That was when both Harry and Neville noticed where Neville's right hand was placed. He removed his hand from her developing bosom as if hit by a white hot poker and stuttered a sorry while blushing profusely.

Hermione took that time to lead their minds away from what had just happened. "What's going on? We can't nearly be there yet, we're still hours from the castle." Her cheeks were still flushed, but she was back in her analytical state.

There was a muttering of I don't l knows from the three males in the compartment.

Suddenly it felt like a dropped of ice cold water had been thrown on him, as the temperature dropped immensely. Small shards of ice started gathering along the window both to the outside and hallway. It was as if the compartment was slowly turning into an oversized freezer.

"There's something out there." Ron told the others. He had been sitting by the window and was now peering out the best he could.

"Is that," Hermione tried slowly "people?" She had apparently seen something the others hadn't.

"What do you see?"

"I don't know, it's all awfully vague, but I think there are people in black cloaks outside."

Suddenly the train gave a small tug to the side and a small, distant scream could be heard as if far along the hallway.

"They are coming a-aboard." Neville stammered.

The rest of the people gulped audibly.

Harry put a little more power into his lumos, but was finding it difficult to concentrate what with all the cold, and this sort of uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Another scream could be heard, it sounded a lot closer than last time.

"Did you hear that?" Harry asked them in hushed tones. "What do you think is going on?"

"Hear what?" Hermione asked. "I can't hear anything." Ron grunted in agreement.

Neville still hadn't said anything so he turned towards him. He was still seated on the compartment floor because of his knee, but he had gone very rigid and pale looking.

"Neville?" He tried, but Neville just shakily nodded. 'Well at least this year it's not a voice only I can hear' Harry thought to himself.

Though the door was still closed it felt like a cold wind had suddenly appeared, sucking the last vestiges of warmth out of the compartment. They all gave a slight shiver. There it was again, a scream, but this time he could hear something else. The word _Harry_.

It might just be his imagination though, as none of the others seems to have reacted to it. They were just getting steadily paler. Neville was considerably whiter than the others, as all blood seemed to have drained from his face.

A gasp brought his attention to the door where a strange, gnarled almost skeleton looking hand was coming into view. It moved forward a bit and you could see a bit of black cloth billowing. It moved down towards the hatch and you could hear the metal creaking as it was slowly being opened.

A rasping breath was the first thing he heard when the wooden door was slowly being opened, but then came the noise. The screams that he had heard was nothing compared to now. Whereas before they seemed to have come from down in the corridor, now they were as clear in his head as if the person screaming was leaning over his ear.

"_No!" A woman screamed, but a deep hollow laugh was heard in response. _

"_No, please. Please, not Harry." The female voice pleaded. _

The figure slowly came into view. Hermione was right, in the right settings it could almost look human. Almost. It was a large cloaked _thing_, with a hood to hide its face. A deep rattling gurgle could be heard as if someone was trying to take a breath, but had something clutched in their throat. And with each breath this horrid creature took the screams seemed to get louder and he got this feeling of a cold hand gripping his heart, squeezing it, while his lungs felt as if a cold had frozen them, constricting his breathing.

There was another voice now, a male voice. It sounded as if he was yelling something.

"_Lily it's him. Get Harry, take Harry and go!" The man shouted._

It was a terrible sensation. Everything told him to run from this thing that stood in front of him, but he felt himself sitting rigid, not daring to breathe, much less move. He gripped his wand tightly, the light had almost gone out now. If he could just do anything to get that creature away from him, but those voices. He didn't know what it was about them, but something felt familiar. A sense of belonging came with them, and he coveted the feeling. He felt that if it were just he and those voices then everything would be all right again. And yet at the same time they were so very frightening. The screams made his blood run cold and the panic clear their speech made him want to curl into a ball and close himself off.

He didn't know where he found the power to do it. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before, or why he thought of it now. It was as if some part of him just wanted to push that thing away and get moving. He moved his hand and wand in a pattern that had become very familiar this summer. Straight up, half a loop to the right, a vertical slash and a thrust in the direction of the hooded creature in front of him.

"_Incendio!_" He wheezed out, with all the power he could muster. Where he intended to shout it out, it seemed his heavy lungs wouldn't let him. But it worked.

A small ball of fire erupted from his wand tip, traveling at great pace towards to black cloak in front of him. A screech, no a wail, could be heard. It was as if it tore the night apart and chilled his bone. And then there was darkness. His wand had been the only light in the compartment, but now he had used it for another spell, and the light was no more. The rasping breath was still there though.

One might ask themselves If it was a good idea to hurl fire in a small wooden compartment aboard a train with three of your best friends sitting beside you, but by now Harry was acting almost as if on instinct. He went through the movements again, and this time it seemed much easier, as if some of the smothering weight holding him down had been forcibly repelled in the face of defiance.

"_Incendio!_" and this time, with his breath somewhat eased up, he shouted it. Was it panic or desperation that led his voice? He didn't know, and it wasn't important. All that mattered was getting that thing away from him

A much larger breath of fire came from his wand. Whereas the other most certainly was a ball this was more of a spray, and as such was able to illuminate the whole compartment in an orange light. The cloaked thing stood where he thought it did. Now though, it seemed that the dark and mouldy robes it was wearing reacted to the fire. They caught alight, and the wail was there again. He tried to force his mind to shut out both the wailing and the shouts and screams of the man and woman.

Another spell come unbidden to his mind. He had thought that would be a perfectly good way to practice at school and so had gone through the wand motions time and time again, and now they were practically ingrained into his muscles.

"_Bombarda_!" this time his voice was back to normal, and a large force of something pushed out. It was almost as if an explosion had gone off. The thing was pushed back and wood splintered all around it, flying out into the air. Harry himself got hit by something in his left shoulder.

Where the thing was previously standing in the doorway it had now been driven back and the door was gone, smashed to pieces. And then it happened.

The cloaked thing was still on fire, and the dark hallway was now slightly lit up. You could see small pieces of woods scattered everywhere, but the worst part was what was gliding in from the shadows. Two cloaked beings approached. Like the other one the only thing one could see underneath the cloaks were the white skeleton hands.

That was when the only thing that existed were the voices. They drowned out all hope, they screamed his name, pled for his life yet he did not know them. But there was that name again. _Lily_. His mother's name. It seemed important, but he just didn't understand.

His vision clouded and the darkness took him.

**Author's Notes: **

I wanted to add a small note about the economy and the whole Potter inheritance ordeal, but I thought it would be too many A/N's for one chapter so I waited until chapter 2.

Harry was made to be rich. In the books we hear, that James was quite able to live without working for years on end together with Lily. I have explained why some of the old houses are rich, so you all know why. I don't intend Harry to be able to buy anything and everything. I have no intention of having him buy presents for his friends that are freakishly expensive just because he can. He will in large treat it as canon!Harry did: He knows he has money, so he buys things from time to time, but doesn't go out of his way to spend it.

The Potter vault? No, it won't be filled with wondrous items that make him overpowered in any way. It's mainly a bank and the few things there… well it makes sense there should be powerful items, but so far I have no plans of incorporating any. I want Harry to become powerful because he works hard at it, not because power is handed to him.

And about the economy. In canon it just doesn't make sense. Prices are either too high or too low. I will try and adjust it as I see fit. Already you saw the wand and bus fare pricing changed. We are dealing with a much smaller society, so there isn't the same mass production and high demand we see in the muggle world. However things tend to become cheaper if you can just buy it the muggle way. What does this mean? Many items will be cheap, such as food and materials (non magical) but wizarding stuff will have a tendency to be quite expensive. Think of a book as an example. If you are thinking a hundred thousand copies will be sold, then you don't need a very high price to make it worth your while, but if you only sell a thousand? It's not simple math where you just multiply the price by a hundred, because then suddenly people won't buy the book since it is too expensive.

I will keep these things in mind, so if you think that something is very cheap while something is very expensive that is why. (But I still can't figure out if I made a wand too cheap. On one hand, everyone needs it so it has to be kind of cheap, but on the other hand EVERYONE needs it, so you can kind of ask a high price. Plus, it takes a lot of work to make a wand. Let's just think Olivander is selling them that cheap because it would be troubling if he became a shrewd businessman and held the English wizards in a chokehold. And because he loves his occupation.)

The Firebolt… I kind of think it should be considered the same luxury as a sports car. The best cars we buy that are not made for professional races/F1/etc. are of course the high end brand like Ferrari and Lamborghini. They cost about 200.000 pounds. Now, as I said it is a smaller market meaning they can't expect to sell as many at those prices, even if we are dealing with a lot of _old money_ from time to time. Then you also have to consider that it is a new brand. I think it should be okay at about 35.000 pounds. (You probably have quite a few Wizards influencing, if not owning, large corporations)

Politics, Society etc. will be discussed and talked about within the story as we go on. Sufficed to say they are different from the muggles' as they've had other problems to focus on. But I can tell you this:

No, just because you are part of an old family you aren't suddenly lord such and such. You are just part of a family with a lot of history to it's name. Some might hold lordships, but most generally don't.

I won't bother with political marriages and such. It happens in the magical world just like in the real world, but the magical world has a tendency to be more equal in rights, so it's not something anyone can just be forced into. Especially since magic makes it so much easier to lash out. There might be references to it, who knows?

Hogwarts is a premiere school. If you go there you are either from a well off family, or your family has done something for someone that has earned you a spot. (Think scholarships. This might be on a person by person basis or in rare cases like the Weasleys by family basis.) Now I'm not saying every Weasley child got a scholarship, since we know that they hardly have any money, and likely use it to fund their education, but there is no way a single working parent can afford to send seven kids to a school for seven years with a yearly cost at about forty thousand pounds. (again, JK just doesn't seem to think about the logistical problems here. It makes for a good story, but still).

Personally I already know how I will deal with this, but I don't want to reveal it just yet, you just have to keep on reading.

Harry's political clout is about as large as any famous person's, meaning he really has to pull some strings to get anything done.

Again, I can't stress this enough. I want Harry to work to become powerful in his own right. We know he is highly skilled at DADA, I am just iterating it and changing it to suit my story without overpowering him.

**Lastly: a request. **If you can think of any swearing or expression pureblooded or halfblooded witches and wizards would use, please let me know. I think it will be tiring if I mainly stumble around talking about Merlin's body parts or clothing.


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